India summons Bangla envoy: No role in Hasina comments

Expressing concern over statements portraying India “negatively”, the Ministry of External Affairs Friday summoned Bangladesh Acting High Commissioner and conveyed that the comments attributed to ousted PM Sheikh Hasina, which led to violence in Dhaka, had been made in “her individual capacity” and Delhi had “no role to play” in it.

According to MEA official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, the Bangladesh envoy, Md. Nural Islam, was told that conflating Hasina’s comments with Government of India’s position was not going to help add positivity to bilateral relations.

“It was conveyed that India desires a positive, constructive and mutually beneficial relationship with Bangladesh… It is, however, regrettable that regular statements made by Bangladesh authorities continue to portray India negatively, holding us responsible for internal governance issues. These statements by Bangladesh are in fact responsible for the persistent negativity,” Jaiswal said.