By IANS,
New Delhi: In a damage control exercise triggered by the prime minister’s off-the-record remark to select editors about Bangladesh, the Indian government Saturday underlined its commitment to developing ties with Dhaka and said it will be in focus when external affairs minister visits Dhaka next week.
“The prime minister and his government and the people of India have the greatest affection for the people of Bangladesh and hold our relations with Bangladesh to be of the highest importance,” the external affairs ministry spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said here.
He was reacting to negative reports in the Bangladesh media which were based on off-the-record remarks attributed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his interaction with a group of editors in New Delhi.
“It is clarified in this regard that these attributed remarks were by no means intended to be judgmental,” said the spokesperson.
“India recognises the stability of the democratically elected government and is committed to the non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states,” he stressed, adding that in recent years ties between India and Bangladesh have seen “exceptional heights.”
“The focus on both sides has been development cooperation, poverty alleviation, capacity building and education. It is in this context that the external affairs minister of India is undertaking an official visit to Bangladesh,” he said.
“We are fully committed to our bilateral relationship with the people and the government of Bangladesh,” the spokesperson added.
In his interaction with a group of editors June 29 here, Manmohan Singh spoke candidly about his assessment of the situation in Bangladesh and the state of bilateral relations between the two countries.
Manmohan Singh expressed thanks to Bangladesh for helping combat anti-India insurgents, but in the same breath warned against the linkage between Jamiat-e-Islami, a right-wing Islamist party, and Pakistan’s spy agency ISI.
“But we must reckon that at least 25 percent of the population of Bangladesh swear by the Jamiat-e-Islami and they are very anti-Indian, and they are in the clutches, many times, of the ISI,” Manmohan Singh said in “off-the-record” comments that were posted on the Prime Minister’s Office website and later deleted.
“So, a political landscape in Bangladesh can change at any time. We do not know what these terrorist elements, who have a hold on the Jamiat-e-Islami elements in Bangladesh, can be up to,” he said.
The remarks posted on the website Wednesday night were splashed in leading Bangladeshi dailies, providing a handle to rigt-wing elements which thrive on anti-India propaganda.
The remarks were later edited out the PMO’s website.
The Jamiat-e-Islami, Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party, was part of the four-party Khaleda Zia government between 2001 and 2006 that saw an upsurge of virulent anti-India sentiments.
The controversy could not have come at a worse time as it has cropped up barely days before External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna goes on an official visit to Dhaka July 6 that is expected to set the stage for Manmohan Singh’s visit to Bangladesh later this year.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed’s visit to India in January 2010 saw warming of ties between the two neighbours that had languished during her predecessor Begum Khaleda’s tenure.
The visit saw India announcing $1 billion line of credit for infrastructure projects in Bangladesh and the signing of crucial agreements on enhanced counter-terror and security cooperation.