Foreign adviser 'surprised' that no counter-questions made to Indian foreign secy

Foreign Adviser Md Touhid Hossain said he was ‘surprised’ that journalists who recently visited India did not ask any counter-questions about India’s role in Bangladesh’s elections over the past 15 years.

He made the remarks today, Tuesday afternoon, in response to questions from reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During the question-answer session, a journalist told the foreign adviser that a delegation from the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) had recently visited India.

During that visit, India’s foreign secretary said they had begun examining the legal aspects of sending Sheikh Hasina back.

When asked whether India had officially informed Bangladesh about this, Foreign adviser Md Touhid Hossain said, “We have fulfilled our legal obligations. We requested Sheikh Hasina’s return as per the court’s directive. India can continue reviewing the legal aspects. They have not responded yet, but they are looking into it from their end.”

Referring to the matter, Touhid Hossain said, “But I have an observation about those of you who went on the India visit. Since you brought up the question, I’ll say it—otherwise, I might not have. India’s foreign secretary had practically handed you a question. Yet, none of you asked it. He said they wanted an inclusive and transparent election. You were given the perfect opportunity to ask why they had not said this in the past 15 years. Were the previous elections held according to that formula? None of you raised that question. I was quite surprised, especially since many of you are senior journalists. When he gave you that opening—even if you didn’t want to embarrass him yourselves—you should have asked that question. But you didn’t.”

Earlier this month, a group of Bangladeshi journalists visited New Delhi. During their meeting, Indian foreign secretary Vikram Misri said that India wants to see a free, fair, inclusive, and participatory election in Bangladesh as soon as possible. He also said that India will work with whichever government comes to power with the mandate of the people of Bangladesh.