Bangladesh, India engage in talks to ease tensions over alleged attacks

Supporters shout slogans during an anti-India protest outside the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A banner, rear, reads "One People, One Country, Bangladesh." (Photo/AP)

The foreign secretaries of Bangladesh and India met in Bangladesh’s capital to discuss relations between the neighbours, including growing tensions since the fall of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled into exile in India in August.

The tensions have grown over the recent arrest in Bangladesh of a Hindu leader under the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus.

Alleged attacks on minority Hindus in Bangladesh and on a Bangladesh diplomatic mission in India were expected to feature prominently in the talks.

Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri was holding the daylong talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart, Mohammad Jashim Uddin, in the first high-level visit by an Indian official since massive protests ended Hasina's 15-year rule.

Hindus recently attacked a Bangladeshi diplomatic office in Agartala, the capital of the northeastern Indian state of Tripura, in reaction to the arrest of Hindu leader Chinmoy Das Prabhu, who had led large rallies in recent months demanding better security for Hindus.

Late last month, Hindu protesters also burned Bangladeshi flags in Kolkata, the capital of India’s eastern state of West Bengal, triggering protests by the Yunus-led government.

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Source: TRT