India is willing to engage with the interim government of Bangladesh and remains interested in working with the government to fulfill the shared aspirations for peace, security and development, High Commissioner Pranay Verma said on Tuesday.
Verma said that New Delhi and Dhaka have a wide-ranging and multifaceted relationship, which cannot be reduced to a single issue or agenda.
The remarks by the Indian High Commissioner to Dhaka come after Bangladesh summoned Verma to the Foreign Affairs Ministry office in Dhaka over the alleged vandalism of its mission in Tripura.
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“We (India and Bangladesh) have such a wide-ranging relationship and a multifaceted relationship and as I have said you cannot reduce it to one issue or one agenda. We are working across so many issues and we really want to build a positive, stable, constructive relationship moving forward. There are so many things we are doing, there are so many interdependencies we have and we want to build on those interdependencies to mutual benefit and we will keep ensuring that our cooperation benefits our people,” Pranay Verma told reporters after a meeting with acting foreign secretary Riaz Hamidullah at Dhaka’s Foreign Affairs Ministry office.
He said that the two countries have maintained positive momentum in the relationship and added that New Delhi is willing to engage with the interim government of Bangladesh. India is interested to work with the Bangladesh government to fulfill the two countries shared aspiration for peace, security and development, he added.
“The number of positive developments that have taken place in our relationship in the last few months, whether it is trade, it is power transmission, supply of essential commodities, we have maintained a lot of positive momentum in the relationship. We are willing to engage with the interim government of Bangladesh and we remain interested in working with the government of Bangladesh to fulfil our shared aspirations for peace, security and development,” the Indian envoy added.
A Bangladesh Foreign Ministry official said that Pranay Verma was asked to come and he was conveyed of Dhaka’s concerns.
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India on Monday described as “deeply regrettable” the incident of the breach of the premises of the Bangladesh consulate in Agartala in Tripura by a group of people protesting the arrest of Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das.
In Agartala, thousands of people took out a massive demonstration near Dhaka’s mission on Monday against the arrest of Das as well as attacks on the Hindu community in Bangladesh. The protesters reportedly barged into the Assistant High Commission of Bangladesh and allegedly resorted to vandalism.
Bangladesh Law Affairs Adviser Asif Nazrul termed the vandalism as India’s “failure” and asked New Delhi to reassess its neighbour afresh after the toppling of the Sheikh Hasina regime.
“We believe in a friendship based on equality and mutual respect. While Sheikh Hasina’s government followed a pro-India policy to cling to power without elections, India must realise that this is not Sheikh Hasina’s Bangladesh,” Asif Nazrul wrote in a Facebook post.