India dismisses Bangladeshi official’s allegation of fueling unrest
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New Delhi: India on Friday strongly rejected as “false and baseless” a senior Bangladeshi official’s claim that it was behind the recent violent clashes in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
The allegation was made by Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, the de-facto home minister of Bangladesh, who accused India of fueling the unrest in Khagrachhari district in Chittagong Hill Tracts following violent incidents last week.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal dismissed the charge, saying, “The interim government, which is unable to maintain law and order in Bangladesh, has routinely sought to shift the blame elsewhere.”
He added that Dhaka should instead “introspect and conduct serious investigations into the action of local extremists committing violence, arson and land grab against the minority communities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.”
The comments came in response to a query on Chowdhury’s remarks at the ministry’s weekly media briefing.
Relations between India and Bangladesh have sharply deteriorated since the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled Dhaka in August last year and sought refuge in India following massive anti-government protests.
The latest round of violence in Khagrachhari broke out after the alleged rape of a girl, triggering clashes last Sunday in which three tribal men were shot dead and dozens injured.