Bangladesh ministers call off visits amid CAB tension | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Bangladesh ministers call off visits amid CAB tension

Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By
Dec 13, 2019 01:10 AM IST

Momen was scheduled to arrive in New Delhi on Thursday night and deliver one of two keynote addresses at the combined Delhi Dialogue and Indian Ocean Dialogue, key track 1.5 events organised by the external affairs ministry, on December 13

Bangladesh foreign minister AK Abdul Momen and home minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Thursday called off visits to India hours after the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, or CAB, which has generated concern and debate in the neighbouring country. Officially, Dhaka attributed Momen’s decision to his participation in events related to Victory Day, observed on December 16 to commemorate the surrender of Pakistani forces in the 1971 war of liberation and Bangladesh’s emergence as an independent state.

An Army official attempts to douse a burning tyre during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Dibrugarh on Thursday.(Photo: PTI)
An Army official attempts to douse a burning tyre during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Dibrugarh on Thursday.(Photo: PTI)

Momen was scheduled to arrive in New Delhi on Thursday night and deliver one of two keynote addresses at the combined Delhi Dialogue and Indian Ocean Dialogue, key track 1.5 events organised by the external affairs ministry, on December 13. He was to meet his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar the following day.

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“Given increasing demand at home, I have decided to cancel the visit. However, I am looking forward to attending the next meeting in January. I am sending our director general to attend the event [on December 13],” Momen told the media.

People familiar with developments said Khan, who was set to arrive in Meghalaya’s capital Shillong on December 13 to join an event commemorating Victory Day, called off his visit because of concerns over the law-and-order situation following protests in parts of the northeast over CAB. Curfew was imposed in Shillong on Thursday following violent protests.

The external affairs ministry sought to control the damage, with spokesperson Raveesh Kumar saying the cancellation of the Bangladesh foreign minister’s visit and CAB should be de-linked. He noted the Bangladesh had informed India that the visit was postponed because of “domestic issues” related to Victory Day.

“Any speculation this development is connected with legislation adopted by Parliament [on Wednesday] regarding the CAB is unwarranted,” Kumar said.

“There seems to be some confusion. We have explained the religious persecution is not happening under the present government. The migrants who have sought refuge in India from Bangladesh have faced persecution and abuse on religious grounds during the military rule and also during the previous governments in Bangladesh,” he added.

Kumar noted that home minister Amit Shah had offered the same clarification in Parliament – that the government led by late Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the current administration under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have safeguarded the rights of Hindus and other minorities.

He quoted Shah as saying that “as long as Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was leading Bangladesh, everything worked very well. But once his government went, minorities began to be oppressed. I can tell you that a large number of Bangladeshi Hindus had to come here to seek refuge…”

Leaders of India and Bangladesh have referred to the current status of bilateral ties as a ‘shonali odhyay’ (golden chapter) but the leadership in Dhaka has been tracking developments in India related to CAB and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) with growing wariness, especially after leaders of the ruling BJP spoke about the deportation of all illegal migrants.

Momen was quoted by Dhaka Tribune as saying on Tuesday: “What they are saying in regards to torture on Hindus is unwarranted as well as untrue.”

He added: “There are very few countries in the world where communal harmony is as good as in Bangladesh. We have no minorities. We are all equal. If he [Amit Shah] stayed in Bangladesh for a few months, he would see the exemplary communal harmony in our country.”

Sheikh Hasina raised the issue in at least two meetings with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, only to be assured that this is an “internal matter” of India with no impact on Bangladesh, according to Bangladeshi officials.

On Wednesday, Parliament passed the controversial CAB whereby members of non-Muslim minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who took refuge in India till December 31, 2014 on account of religious persecution will be given Indian citizenship.

Momen said on Wednesday that India’s historic position as a tolerant country that believes in secularism “will be weakened if they deviate from that”. The two countries have close and friendly relations and the Bangladeshi people expect India “won’t do anything that could create anxiety among them”, he added.

He also rejected allegations of repression of Bangladesh’s minorities, saying: “Many important decisions of our country are taken by persons belonging to different religions...we never judge anybody by their religion.”

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