Dhaka has shared some “solid inputs” with New Delhi, exposing Pakistan’s involvement in whipping up anti-India sentiments “that resulted in violence against the Hindu minority in Bangladesh two months ago”. Top diplomatic sources told The Daily Guardian that the issue of attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh figured during Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla’s meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart and other diplomats last week. “It was in this meeting that the role of Pakistan in fanning anti-India sentiments was exposed based on solid inputs,” sources said.
The diplomats in Dhaka told the Indian delegation that the attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh were fuelled by hate speech on social media and Pakistani elements were behind this, sources told The Daily Guardian, adding that India has sought more concrete and clinching evidence regarding the same so that it could be taken up with the United Nations at the earliest. The locals of Bangladesh were used by Pakistan to carry out its anti-India agenda, sources say quoting foreign ministry officials from Dhaka.
Both Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen and Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen assured Shringla of taking all steps to ensure that the soil of Dhaka is not used by any anti-India activity. With President Ram Nath Kovind visiting Dhaka from 15-17 December, Indian diplomats will be using the opportunity to remind their Bangladeshi counterparts to provide credible evidence against Pakistan’s involvement in the recent riots, sources said.
Bangladesh State Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohammed Shahriar Alam also in an interview recently hinted at Pakistan being behind fanning sentiments against India. While answering queries on this, Alam did not rule out the possibility of Pakistan’s conspiracy. Top MEA sources said that India is more than keen to share these inputs with the UN to expose Pakistan on the international forum.
The UN had taken a strong note of attacks on minority Hindus in Bangladesh. The global body had also asked the Sheikh Hasina government to ensure that an impartial probe into the violence is carried out. Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla was in Dhaka last week where he called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and other officials to discuss the forthcoming state visit of President Ram Nath Kovind to Dhaka on the occasion of 50 years of Victory Day and Liberation of Bangladesh.
President Kovind’s Dhaka visit from 15 to 17 December has already begun. But ahead of the President’s visit on Tuesday, the Foreign Secretary did refer to the communal riots that happened in Bangladesh in October this year in which Hindus were targeted. He said on Tuesday, “The bilateral relationship between New Delhi and Dhaka has not been impacted due to the recent spate of communal riots in Bangladesh.” He added that the ties between the two countries have hit a “high point” in recent years.