Bangladesh wants relations with India based on equity & fairness: Chief Adviser Yunus

Bangladesh wants to maintain good relations with India, said Interim government’s Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus Sunday, asserting that it should be based on equity and fairness.

“We need to maintain good relations with India. But it should be based on equity and fairness,” the chief adviser’s special assistant Mahfuj Alam quoted him as saying.

Mahfuj, who briefed the media after the meeting, added that the chief adviser said Bangladesh always gives importance to mutual respect and equity in maintaining relations with neighbours.

He stressed reviving the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to enhance regional cooperation, state-run BSS news agency reported. The interim government headed by Yunus was appointed days after Hasina resigned and fled to India on August 5 following unprecedented anti-government student-led protests over a controversial quota system in government jobs.

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Neighbourly relations have been strained by the student-led uprising that toppled Bangladesh’s leader Sheikh Hasina. Hasina, 76, fled to India on Aug. 5 as anger against her government swelled. But the ouster triggered more violence. Police went on strike and mobs rampaged across the country until a new interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus was sworn in.

Last week, Yunus expressed a desire for good ties with India but insisted that New Delhi must abandon the narrative that only Hasina’s leadership ensures the country’s stability.

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Meanwhile, Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain Sunday expressed surprise over Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s remarks, emphasising that he does not foresee any immediate threat of conflict between the two neighbours.

“I am more surprised than concerned. I don’t understand why he (Singh) made such remarks… I don’t find any reason behind that,” he told reporters at the foreign ministry here when asked for his comments on Singh’s remarks.

Addressing a joint commanders conference in Lucknow on Thursday, Singh called upon the top military brass to analyse the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza as well as the current situation in Bangladesh to “predict” any future problems and stay prepared to deal with the “unexpected.”

With inputs from agencies.