India's Defense Minister Rajnath Singh has said that India is determined to maintain good relations with its neighboring countries. Bangladesh is no exception. Rajnath Singh said this in a special interview to the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) on Saturday.
Rajnath Singh said, “India always wants to have good relations with his neighbor. Bangladesh is also our neighboring state. We always try to maintain good relationships with our neighbor. Because former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee used to say, we can change friends, but not neighbors. So, we want to maintain good relations with Bangladesh all the time. '
There have been allegations of the rise of Islamic extremists in Bangladesh after the collapse of the Awami League government. Dr. Yunus' interim government has relaxed compulsory security approval for Pakistani citizens. As a result, many notorious terrorists, who had fled to Pakistan earlier, alleged that they were returning to Bangladesh easily. India is concerned about this. This is because such policy changes can increase security risks in South Asia.
“We support a stable, peaceful, inclusive and progressive Bangladesh,” said Randhir Jayaswal, a spokesman for the Indian Foreign Ministry, at a regular briefing in New Delhi on Friday. Where all the issues will be resolved through democratic ways and inclusive and participatory elections. We are concerned about the deterioration of the law and order situation in Bangladesh. In addition, the risk of the violent extremists convicted of serious crime has increased.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “From August 1 to February 1, 2021, 2,500 attacks were reported. However, the police confirmed the truth of only 9,220 incidents. About 5 percent of the incidents have been called political. We hope that the government of Bangladesh will bring the real criminals under trial without political consideration. '
Meanwhile, New Delhi has continued regular diplomatic communication to keep Indo-Bangladesh relations normal, spokesman Randhir Jayaswal said.
In December, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Egypt visited Dhaka and raised concerns over India's concerns over the security of minorities at a meeting with the top leadership of the interim government.
In addition, Indian Foreign Minister S Jayashankar met with Foreign Advisor Touhid Hossain of Bangladesh in Mascot in January and he clearly said, “Terrorism should not be normalized in Bangladesh.”
