DHAKA, Bangladesh: Bangladesh’s interim government expressed shock on Monday at a politician in neighbouring India’s call to deploy UN peacekeeping forces in the country to protect Hindus and other minorities.
Bangladesh saw a student-led uprising in August that ousted premier Sheikh Hasina after 15 years of rule.
Following the protests, leaders of the country’s Hindu community have expressed fears of attacks.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of India’s West Bengal state urged New Delhi on Monday to petition the UN to address their concerns.
“They can send the peacekeeping force to Bangladesh and rescue our people,” Banerjee said.
Bangladesh’s foreign minister Touhid Hossain expressed dismay over what amounted to one of the biggest censures of his country’s leadership by India since Hasina’s ouster.
“I don’t know, I can’t understand why Mamata Banerjee made such a statement. I know her personally, I have visited her home several times,” he told reporters.
Touhid accused Indian media of spreading disinformation about the status of Hindus in Bangladesh.
“Problems can be solved,” he said. “Mutual interests must be preserved, and Bangladesh seeks a friendly relationship with India.”
Touhid, part of a caretaker cabinet tasked with imposing democratic reforms following Hasina’s ouster, said he had also spoken to other foreign diplomats to “dispel misunderstandings over minority issues”.
Public sentiment in the country is stacked against India, Hasina’s main international patron.
Hefazat-e-Islam, an association of Islamic seminaries, has led public protests against India and accused New Delhi of running a campaign aimed at “propagating hate” against Bangladesh.
On the other side of the border, Hindu activists on Monday attempted to storm a Bangladeshi consulate during a protest in Agartala, a small Indian city not far from Bangladesh. – AFP
