India on Friday expressed concerns over Bangladesh releasing certain “violent extremists” and underlined that it is the responsibility of the interim government to protect Hindus and other minorities.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: “We remain concerned about the deteriorating law and order situation, further exacerbated by the release of violent extremists, who were sentenced for serious crimes.”
He said the security situation has affected cooperation on development activities with Bangladesh.
“Development cooperation is a priority area of our relations with the people of Bangladesh. The recent security situation and long-standing local issues have affected the pace of implementation of some of these projects. The official discussions therefore focused on rationalising the project portfolio and executing mutually agreed projects in a time-bound manner. Subject to obtaining the committed support and pending clearances from the Bangladesh side, we plan to take these projects forward,” the spokesperson said.
India has repeatedly underlined that it is the responsibility of the interim government to protect the Hindus and other minorities, as well as their properties and religious institutions, he said.
“However, only 1254 incidents out of over 2374 incidents reported from August 5, 2024 to February 16, 2025 have been verified by the police. Further, 98 per cent of these 1254 incidents were deemed ‘political in nature’,” he said.
“We expect Bangladesh to thoroughly investigate and bring all perpetrators of killings, arson and violence to justice without making such distinctions,” the MEA spokesperson said.
Jaiswal said India supports a “stable, peaceful, inclusive and progressive Bangladesh” in which all issues are resolved through democratic means and by holding inclusive and participatory elections.