NEW DELHI, Feb 8 - Notwithstanding the hue and cry over problem of persecution of the Hindu population in the neighbouring country, the NDA government did not raise the issue at the fifth meeting of the India-Bangladesh Joint Consultative Commission held here on Friday.
The JCC was co-chaired by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh, Dr AK Abdul Momen.
Official sources said that the two ministers reaffirmed that the relationship between India and Bangladesh, since the 1971 Liberation War, goes far beyond a strategic partnership. Today it is anchored in history, culture, language and shared values of democracy, secularism, development cooperation and countless other commonalities.
Highly placed sources said that the issue of persecution of Hindu population in Bangladesh did not figure in the talks. The NDA government has brought the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to help the migrant Hindu Bengalis who have taken shelter in India because of religious persecution in Bangladesh.
The External Affairs Minister hailed the humanitarian gesture of Bangladesh in supporting a large number of displaced persons from the Rakhine State of Myanmar and assured the Foreign Minister of India�s continued support for safe, speedy and sustainable return of the displaced persons to Myanmar.
Foreign Minister Momen conveyed the gratitude of Government of Bangladesh for the humanitarian assistance provided by India in four tranches since September 2017 to help meet the requirements of the displaced persons from Myanmar.
Swaraj and Momen expressed satisfaction that both the countries are working closer than ever before in every sector, from security and border management to mutually-beneficial trade and investment flows, power and energy, river water sharing, development partnership, transport connectivity, culture, people-to-people contacts.
The Ministers tasked their accompanying officials to develop a forward looking roadmap for bilateral cooperation to make the partnership irreversible. In particular, they desired that partnership-building efforts should be enhanced in a manner to commensurate with commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh�s Liberation.
