Amid the political upheaval in Bangladesh, Indian Ambassador Pranay Verma on Thursday met interim government chief adviser Muhammad Yunus. During this, he reiterated India’s commitment to work with Bangladesh to fulfill the shared aspirations of the people of both countries for peace, security and development.
“Ambassador Pranay Verma held an introductory meeting with His Excellency Professor Muhammad Yunus. Reiterated India’s commitment to work with Bangladesh to meet the shared aspirations of the people of India and Bangladesh for peace, security and development,” the Indian High Commission in Dhaka said in a post on Twitter.
According to PTI, a local newspaper reported that Verma expressed concern over the security of his embassy and other establishments in Bangladesh, including his High Commission in Dhaka, during his meeting with Yunus at the State Guesthouse Jamuna. Press Secretary to the Chief Advisor Shafiqul Alam said that the government has already beefed up security in the entire diplomatic area.
Local media reported that apart from security issues, the Indian envoy discussed the goal of shared prosperity between the two countries, reaffirming India’s firm belief in a prosperous and stable Bangladesh. They exchanged views on issues of common interest and discussed ways to further strengthen people-to-people ties.
Let us tell you that Bangladesh has the largest visa operation of India and last year 16 lakh people came to India. According to a report, 60 percent of these came for tourism purposes, 30 percent for medical purposes and 10 percent for other purposes. On the issue of floods, Alam quoted the envoy as saying that water was released automatically due to rising water level. The High Commissioner described the floods in Tripura as a very unprecedented event, due to which 50,000 people have been displaced. He said that it has caused devastation on both sides of Bangladesh and India.
Yunus said Bangladesh is a big family and stressed on high-level cooperation on water issues and activating it in emergency situations. He said water-sharing of joint rivers can be resolved by working together and referred to the Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan. Minority issues were also discussed during the meeting. The chief adviser also spoke about BIMSTEC and SAARC and stressed on bringing together the youth in South Asia.