Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri (file photo)
New Delhi: Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri is set to visit Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Monday amid tensions over atrocities on the Hindu community there. He will hold Foreign Office Consultations with his Bangladeshi counterpart Md Jashim Uddin.
Ever since the assumption of office by the interim government led by Nobel Peace Laureate Mohammad Yunus, and reports about attacks on Hindu places of worship in Bangladesh, government of India has been closely watching and making periodic statements in public and to the Bangladesh government about the need to ensue safety of the Hindu community there.
The visit of Vikram Misri comes amidst such reports and more particularly the arrest of a prominent Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das.
It also marks the first high-level diplomatic engagement from New Delhi to Dhaka following the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024 and her subsequent flight to India after large-scale anti-government protests rocked Bangladesh.
Vikram Misri's visit is to participate in the Foreign Office Consultations, a mechanism to address bilateral issues and foster dialogue. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal confirmed the meeting last week, emphasising India's commitment to addressing growing challenges in its eastern neighbour.
The visit follows an earlier meeting in September between External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Bangladesh's Foreign Affairs Advisor Md Touhid Hossain on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. That meeting, the first high-level interaction after Hasina's ouster, focused on strengthening bilateral relations amid an increasingly strained atmosphere.
India had been maintaining extremely cordial relations with the ousted Hasina regime, and since her ouster, relations have been under a shadow of uncertainty in bilateral relations which was marked by active trade relations and movement of people in either directions.
"We are concerned about the surge in extremist rhetoric, increasing incidents of violence, and provocations. These developments cannot be dismissed only as media exaggerations. We once again call upon Bangladesh to take all steps for the protection of all minorities," the MEA had stated previously.
(With inputs from IANS)