DHAKA ( WNAM MONITORING): Any activity on Indian soil by ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would risk good-neighborly ties, Bangladesh told New Delhi on Wednesday.
“This development also risks upholding the good-neighborly relations with India driven by mutual trust and mutual respect,” said the Foreign Ministry. “This may also trigger public sentiment in Bangladesh which may in turn impact the ongoing efforts of the two countries in further enhancing the relationship between the two closest neighbors.”
The statement followed the alleged establishment of offices by Hasina’s banned political party, the Bangladesh Awami League, in the Indian capital of New Delhi and the western city of Calcutta.
But New Delhi said it “is not aware of any anti-Bangladesh activities by purported members of the Awami League in India or of any action that is contrary to Indian law.”
“The government does not allow political activities against other countries to be carried out from Indian soil,” according to a statement by Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal, who called Dhaka’s statement “misplaced.”
Hasina fled India last August following a student-led uprising, after which an interim administration was formed, led by Muhammad Yunus.
The Yunus government banned Awami League activities following a UN report that estimated 1,400 people were killed in the uprising.
The ban will be in place until a trial of Awami League supporters, including Hasina, for their alleged crimes against humanity.
Dhaka urged India to immediately stop the activities of the Awami League on its soil.
The Amar Desh newspaper in Bangladesh reported Wednesday that the Awami League has opened an office in New Delhi.
Media reports have claimed hundreds of Awami League supporters are currently outside Bangladesh, including in India.
