"Extremist voices have been allowed to grow in Bangladesh," says ORF Vice President

New Delhi [India], December 24 (ANI): Harsh V Pant, Vice President of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) said on Wednesday that it is a sensitive time for India-Bangladesh relations.
Pant, in a conversation with ANI, said that Bangladesh Interim Government Leader Muhammad Yunus is unable to control the situation there, leading to sensitivity in the region.
"It's a very sensitive time for India-Bangladesh relations and they have been spiraling out of control almost in the last few days as we have seen issues have led to the situation and I think there is a history here in the sense that the extremist voices have been allowed to grow and that has created a lot of bad blood between the two countries, which is of course not needed given how close India and Bangladesh have always been," he said.
Pant said that this unfortunate series of events have caused the rise of a sorry state of relations between both the countries.
"But under the present circumstances, there is the rise of extremist groups and the way they have been targeting India has created a very unfortunate situation where on both sides in India and Bangladesh. Now there is an extraordinary degree of resentment," he said.
Pant said the way Hindus have been targeted in Bangladesh has increased pressure on the Indian government to take steps.
"I think, of course, the way Hindus have been targeted in Bangladesh has created a sense of resentment here in India. And that is leading to a lot of pressure on the government here in India to take steps," he said.
Pant said that impending elections in Bangladesh are also being looked at with anticipation, as tensions are building up in the region. There are doubts being raised as the Awami League has been banned and Bangladesh Nationalist Party leaders are being targeted.
"The elections that are going to be held in Bangladesh next year, are also being looked at through a lens and that is not very helpful at this point because of course Awami League has been marginalized but we also saw BNP leaders being targeted and there was a case where BNP leader's I think the daughter died, their house was targeted, it was burned," he said.
Pant said that if peace prevails in Bangladesh, it would lead to stability in the entire region as well.
"So in a sense, there is a wide degree of chaos in Bangladesh and the Yunus government seems unable to handle it in a manner that not only creates some degree of confidence within Bangladesh that elections will be held in the right spirit, but also I think across the region, particularly here in India, that elections will be held in a manner that will lead to peace, but would also lead to greater degree of stability in India-Bangladesh relations," he said.
He added that the Indian government is under pressure beacuse of what is happening in Bangladesh.
"Indian government is under pressure given what is happening in Bangladesh. And Indian government will be watching it very carefully to see that things stabilize over the course of the next few days. And not only there is a broader degree of stability in Bangladesh, but also Hindus are not targeted the way they have been targeted in recent past," he said.
Meanwhile, India on Tuesday summoned Bangladesh High Commissioner, second time in a week, amid apparent strain in ties over the developments in the neighbouring country.
The summons came amid protests in Bangladesh due to killing of student leader Sharif Osman Hadi and lynching of Dipu Chandra Das in two separate incidents. (ANI)