New Delhi, Sep 16: India on Friday sent another consignment of aid for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. The relief was shipped just hours after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj telephoned Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, assuring her that New Delhi has been putting pressure on the Myanmar government to ease the situation, a senior official in Ms. Hasina’s office told The Hindu.
“India and Bangladesh’s stand is aligned over the Rohingya issue,” said Nazrul Islam, advisor to Ms. Hasina. “Ms. Swaraj said India would push Myanmar both bilaterally and multilaterally to take back their refugees.”
The MEA declined to comment on the External Affairs Minister’s conversation, but didn’t deny the Bangladesh Prime Minister’s office’s version of what was said. According to Mr. Islam, who spoke on the telephone from Dhaka, the call was arranged during a meeting with the Indian High Commissioner Harsh Shringla regarding relief arrangements.
Ms. Hasina is due to leave for New York this weekend to attend the UN General Assembly (UNGA), where she “could” meet Ms. Swaraj, the advisor said.
A senior MEA official told The Hindu that India and Bangladesh are “in close touch” over the issue, but that it was “too early” to say whether India and Bangladesh will present a united front at the UNGA, where Bangladesh has made it clear it will call for international pressure on Myanmar.
Source The Hindu
