STAR REPORT

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi have agreed that Dhaka and New Delhi will work together to ensure political and economic stability in the two countries as well as the region.

“India and Bangladesh think the same way. We want regional peace and stability for development,” Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said while briefing reporters after Hasina and Modi held a bilateral meeting in New Delhi on the eve of the G20 Summit.

Momen said this when a reporter asked him about India’s attitude towards elections in Bangladesh amid pressure from the US and other western countries that are calling for free and fair polls.

Momen said there was no pressure because the government is committed to free and fair elections. He also dismissed the likelihood that there will be an election-time caretaker government.

The foreign minister then added that BNP’s 2001-2006 tenure saw a rise in violence against minority communities, militancy and terrorist attacks.

Hasina and Modi held the hour-long meeting at the official residence of the latter yesterday evening.

At his briefing, Momen told reporters that the Awami League government took actions against the insurgents from India’s Northeast region who took shelter in Bangladesh.

Modi expressed deep gratitude to Hasina for her government’s role in ensuring peace situation in northeastern India, Momen said.

Asked if Modi and Hasina discussed Bangladesh elections, Momen said, “I don’t know.”

Before the formal meeting, Hasina and Modi also had a tete-a-tete.

Asked whether elections were discussed in the private meeting, Momen said, “Maybe. I don’t know about that.”

Hasina reached the Indian capital around 1:15pm. She travelled there to attend the G20 summit at the invitation of India, this year’s G20 president. Indian State Minister for Railways and Textile Darshana Jardosh and Bangladesh High Commissioner to India, Mustafizur Rahman, welcomed the premier at Palam Airport.

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