Indian Ministry of External Affairs saysBangladesh should focus on ‘protecting rights of its own minorities’

Amid the strained Dhaka-New Delhi relations, India has come up with a diplomatic jab advising Bangladesh should concentrate on “protecting the rights of its own minorities”.

Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal made the remark in a brief statement on Friday, just a day after the interim government strongly protested India’s attempts to involve Bangladesh in communal violence in Murshidabad, West Bengal.

“We strongly refute any attempts to implicate Bangladesh in the communal violence in Murshidabad,” Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam said while addressing a press briefing held at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka on Thursday.

“We urge the Government of India and West Bengal to take all steps to fully protect the minority Muslim population,” he added.

India, however, rejected the remarks made by the Bangladesh side with regard to the incidents in West Bengal.

“This is a barely disguised and disingenuous attempt to draw a parallel with India’s concerns over the ongoing persecution of minorities in Bangladesh where the criminal perpetrators of such acts continue to roam free,” Jaiswal said.

“Instead of making unwarranted comments and indulging in virtue signaling, Bangladesh would do better to focus on protecting the rights of its own minorities,” the MEA spokesperson added.

Political and diplomatic tensions between Dhaka and New Delhi have negatively impacted the countries’ bilateral ties which have soured since 5 August last year when a student-people uprising ousted authoritarian prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Hasina fled to India where she has remained since.