‘Deeply unfortunate’: Hasina on Bangladesh skipping Brics summit
Former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina has called Dhaka’s decision to skip the Brics summit in India “deeply unfortunate”, saying the country’s participation could have opened new opportunities for its economic and social development.
However, Dhaka subsequently withdrew from talks to finalise the dates, apparently due to the lack of a firm commitment from India on the extradition of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
“Foreign policy cannot be conducted through personal reaction or short-term political calculation,” Hasina told PTI, commenting on Bangladesh’s absence from the summit. She also said Bangladesh was facing a serious national crisis, adding that “Bangladesh is passing through a grave national crisis and democratic space has been closed. In a letter dated July 14, accessed by TOI, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had invited Rahman to the summit in his capacity as BIMSTEC chair, saying his participation would “greatly enrich the deliberations”.
Bangladesh needs a mature, balanced and confident foreign policy. A responsible government should open doors for the country, not close them. Meanwhile, the Indian government has reiterated that it invited Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to attend the BRICS summit as chair of BIMSTEC and also extended a separate invitation for a bilateral visit. After Rahman was sworn in as prime minister, Modi invited him for a bilateral visit.
“I have said this before as well, we had invited the PM of Bangladesh on a bilateral visit. So, he had received two invitations, one on the bilateral side and the other for Brics,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said. The ministry of external affairs (MEA) was responding to Dhaka’s claim that the invitation for the summit had been extended to the BIMSTEC chair and not Rahman. Subsequently, he was invited for Brics summit as chair of Bimstec.