External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held talks with Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Adviser Md. Touhid Hossain on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in what was the first high-level contact between the two countries after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was dislodged from power last month.
”Had a meeting with Foreign Affairs Adviser Md. Touhid Hossain of Bangladesh in New York this evening. The conversation focussed on our bilateral ties,” the minister wrote on X while sharing a picture of the meeting.
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh wrote on X, “Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Adviser Md. Touhid Hossain and External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar met at UNGA79 sidelines and discussed issues of mutual interest between Bangladesh and India.”The meeting came a few hours after Bangladesh lodged a “diplomatic protest” with the Indian High Commission in Dhaka in response to recent remarks made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah “regarding Bangladeshi nationals” during his visit to Jharkhand.
Even though India continues to pitch for normalisation of bilateral ties following last month’s events and continued targeting of the Hindu minority in Bangladesh, the interim government in Dhaka has been making groundless statements over the past few weeks. Last month, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) dismissed as “baseless” the allegations levelled by Bangladesh’s interim government that India is “deliberately” letting more water flow into the neighbouring country.
