India does not endorse Hasina's remarks: Vikram Misri

Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that his country does not endorse Sheikh Hasina's criticism of the interim government in Bangladesh.

He said this on Wednesday while briefing the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, headed by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, reports The Hindu.

The issue remains a pinprick in the India-Bangladesh relationship, Misri added.

The Indian foreign secretary said India's relationship with Bangladesh was not limited to a "single political party" or a government but focused on the "people of Bangladesh".

"Hasina was using private communication devices to make her comments and that the Government of India was not involved in providing her with any platform or facility that enabled her to carry out her political activity from Indian soil," The Hindu reported quoting Misri.

This, he said, was part of India's traditional practice of avoiding interference in third countries.

Briefing the parliamentary committee about his recent Bangladesh visit, Misri described Bangladesh as the largest partner in trade and connectivity in South Asia and said that in recent years the two sides had built rail links, bus links, and inland waterways.

He said India was concerned about the lack of acknowledgement of the alleged incidents of violence against minority communities but welcomed the latest report that authorities in Bangladesh had arrested 88 persons related to the violence against minority communities after the fall of the Hasina government.

At the briefing, Misri said he had told Bangladesh authorities that their decision to release many of the "convicted terrorists" who are indulging in anti-India rhetoric, remained an issue of deep concern for India.

The Bangladesh authorities, meanwhile, flagged the disinformation campaign in the Indian press about the events unfolding in that country.

Many committee members, meanwhile raised the issue of the alleged arrest of Iskcon monks in Bangladesh, but "no reply, as per the sources, was forthcoming from Mr. Misri on the issue," reports The Hindu.