Bangladesh's accusations are misplaced, says Centre
Bangladesh had accused India of hosting Awami League (AL) leaders and described the alleged activities of these leaders as an 'unambiguous affront' to the people and state of Bangladesh. Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs described Bangladesh's concerns as 'misplaced'.
'The Government of India 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,' Mr. Jaiswal said.
Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh had accused India of allowing 'growing anti-Bangladesh activities' by the leadership of the Awami League which was banned last year after the Awami League government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was overthrown in a student-people uprising prompting Ms. Hasina to seek shelter in India.
'Any form of political activity campaigning against the interests of Bangladesh by Bangladeshi nationals, particularly by the absconding leaders/activists of a banned political party, staying on Indian soil, legally or illegally, including the establishment of offices is an unambiguous affront against the people and State of Bangladesh,' said the MoFA Bangladesh. The statement cited an event held at the Press Club of India on July 21 where a civil society outfit with ties with Bangladeshi diaspora spoke about the law and order situation in Bangladesh and distributed books and reading materials during the event and said such activities 'may 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 neighbours.'
The interim government of Bangladesh has banned Awami League citing the involvement of its top leaders in the crackdown against civilians and students during July-August 2024 before the collapse of the Sheikh Hasina government. Though many Awami League leaders are in hiding, the party maintains a large cadre base who recently clashed with ruling establishment's student supporters in Gopalganj.
'India reiterates its expectation that free, fair and inclusive elections will be held at the earliest in Bangldesh to ascertain the will and mandate of the people,' said Mr. Jaiswal.
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The Constitutional Conduct Group adds its voice to the section of the international civil community that condemns the rabid Israeli response to the horrific Hamas terrorist attack of October 7, 2023, against the background of Israel's continuing occupation of Palestinian lands, its deliberate war crimes, its ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians from Gaza, and a slow and defiant genocide that now mimics the holocaust of Jews in Europe in the 20th century and mocks the powerlessness of the international community. We call upon the government of India to reclaim its historic leadership in addressing colonial injustices and consider initiatives to pull Israel back from its genocidal course that may result in one of the blackest chapters in the history of humanity. Constitutional Conduct Group (111 signatories, as below) 1 Anita Agnihotri IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Social Justice Empowerment, GoI 2 Talmiz Ahmad IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE 3 Anand Arni RAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI 4 Sandeep Bagchee IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra 5 J.L. Bajaj IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Administrative Reforms and Decentralisation Commission, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh 6 G. Balachandhran IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal 7 Vappala Balachandran IPS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI 8 Gopalan Balagopal IAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal 9 Chandrashekar Balakrishnan IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Coal, GoI 10 Sushant Baliga Engineering Services (Retd.) Former Additional Director General, Central PWD, GoI 11 Rana Banerji RAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI 12 Sharad Behar IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh 13 Aurobindo Behera IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha 14 Madhu Bhaduri IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Portugal 15 K.V. Bhagirath IFS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, Indian Ocean Rim Association, Mauritius 16 Pradip Bhattacharya IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Development & Planning and Administrative Training Institute, Govt. of West Bengal 17 Nutan Guha Biswas IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Police Complaints Authority, Govt. of NCT of Delhi 18 Meeran C Borwankar IPS (Retd.) Former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and Development, GoI 19 Ravi Budhiraja IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI 20 Maneshwar Singh Chahal IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Home, Govt. of Punjab 21 R. Chandramohan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi 22 Rachel Chatterjee IAS (Retd.) Former Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh 23 Kalyani Chaudhuri IAS (Retd.) 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Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of NCT of Delhi 70 P. Joy Oommen IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh 71 Amitabha Pande IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI 72 Maxwell Pereira IPS (Retd.) Former Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi 73 G.K. Pillai IAS (Retd.) Former Home Secretary, GoI 74 Gurnihal Singh Pirzada IAS (Resigned) Former MD, Punjab State Electronic Development & Production Corporation, Govt. of Punjab 75 R. Poornalingam IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI 76 Rajesh Prasad IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to the Netherlands 77 T.R. Raghunandan IAS (Retd.) Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoI 78 N.K. Raghupathy IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoI 79 V. Ramani IAS (Retd.) Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra 80 M. Rameshkumar IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal 81 K. Sujatha Rao IAS (Retd.) Former Health Secretary, GoI 82 M.Y. Rao IAS (Retd.) 83 Madhukumar Reddy A. IRTS (Retd.) Former Principal Executive Director, Railway Board, GoI 84 Vijaya Latha Reddy IFS (Retd.) Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoI 85 Julio Ribeiro IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Punjab 86 Aruna Roy IAS (Resigned) 87 Manabendra N. Roy IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal 88 A.K. Samanta IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police (Intelligence), Govt. of West Bengal 89 Deepak Sanan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh 90 Tilak Raj Sarangal IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary (Elections) and Financial Commissioner, Revenue (Appeals) 91 G.V. Venugopala Sarma IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha 92 N.C. Saxena IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI 93 A. Selvaraj IRS (Retd.) Former Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Chennai, GoI 94 Ardhendu Sen IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal 95 Aftab Seth IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Japan 96 Aruna Sharma IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Steel, GoI 97 Ashok Kumar Sharma IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia 98 Ashok Kumar Sharma IFoS (Retd.) Former MD, State Forest Development Corporation, Govt. of Gujarat 99 Navrekha Sharma IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Indonesia 100 Raju Sharma IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh 101 Avay Shukla IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary (Forests & Technical Education), Govt. of Himachal Pradesh 102 K.S. Sidhu IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra 103 Mukteshwar Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission 104 Tara Ajai Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka 105 A.K. Srivastava IAS (Retd.) Former Administrative Member, Madhya Pradesh Administrative Tribunal 106 Prakriti Srivastava IFoS (Retd.) Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & Special Officer, Rebuild Kerala Development Programme, Govt. of Kerala 107 Parveen Talha IRS (Retd.) Former Member, Union Public Service Commission 108 Anup Thakur IAS (Retd.) Former Member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission 109 P.S.S. Thomas IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission 110 Ashok Vajpeyi IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi This article went live on August twenty-first, two thousand twenty five, at fifty-seven minutes past one in the afternoon.
