New Delhi: India on Friday renewed its concerns over incidents targeting minority groups in Bangladesh, cautioning that dismissing these attacks as the work of outside forces only emboldens those responsible and heightens insecurity among vulnerable communities.
External Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal made the remarks during the weekly media briefing, responding to questions on recent assaults against minorities in Bangladesh and whether New Delhi had communicated with Dhaka in recent days.
“We continue to witness a disturbing pattern of recurring attacks on minorities as well as their homes and business establishments by extremists in Bangladesh. Such communal incidents need to be dealt with swiftly and firmly. We have observed a troubling tendency to attribute such incidents to personal rivalries, personal vendettas, political differences, and other extraneous reasons. Such disregard only emboldens the extremists and the perpetrators of such crimes and deepens the sense of fear and insecurity among the minorities,” Jaiswal said in the video, which was shared by the ministry on X.
Two members of the Hindu community have been killed in Bangladesh during the opening week of the year, according to reports.
Separately, Jaiswal said that India has voiced firm opposition to Chinese construction activity in the Shaksgam Valley, an area it maintains lies within its territory, and cautioned against any move aimed at changing the situation there.
Answering media questions, he stressed that India has never accepted the 1963 China–Pakistan “boundary agreement,” under which Islamabad handed the Shaksgam region to Beijing, describing that transfer as unlawful.
The spokesperson said: “Shaksgam Valley is Indian territory. We have never recognised the so-called China–Pakistan ‘Boundary Agreement’ that happened in 1963. We have consistently maintained that the agreement is illegal and invalid. We do not recognize a so-called China-Pakistan economic corridor either, which passes through Indian territory that is under forcible and illegal occupation of Pakistan. The entire union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral and inseparable part of India. This has been clearly conveyed to the Pakistani and the Chinese authorities several times. We have consistently protested with the Chinese side against attempts to alter the ground reality in Shakam Valley. We further reserve the right to take necessary measures to safeguard our interests.”
Separately, New Delhi has criticised New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for sending a message of support to jailed activist Umar Khalid. Briefing reporters, Jaiswal said Mamdani ought to respect the legal systems of other democracies and concentrate on the duties of his own office.
Mamdani passed along a handwritten note to Umar Khalid’s parents during their meeting last month, expressing support for Khalid in the message.
Commenting on the development, Jaiswal said: “We expect public representatives to be respectful of the independence of the judiciary in other democracies. Expressing personal prejudices does not behove those in office. Instead of such comments, it would be better to focus on the responsibilities entrusted to them.”
