The American foreign minister told the parliament that the former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina had requested to visit India “at really short notice.”
After her government was toppled by a political issue, Ms. Hasina fled Bangladesh to India on Monday night.
S. Jaishankar, the foreign minister, did not specify how much she would remain in the nation or what she would do next.
He claimed that India had been in regular touch with Dhaka officials for the past 24 hours in his first official statement since the crisis’s peak in Bangladesh.
Ms Hasina resigned on Monday after weeks of deadly anti-government protests. The country’s army chief has promised that an interim government will be formed and new elections will be announced.
India shares a 4, 096km (2, 545 miles ) -border with Bangladesh and has close economic and cultural ties with the country. Despite her clampdown on dissent and imprisoning opposition leaders, Bangladesh’s continued hostilities are worrying that they could spread to India, which is perceived as having supported Ms. Hasina throughout her 15-year career.
On Monday, India deployed more troops along its borders with Bangladesh.
Mr. Jaishankar claimed that the Indian government was “in close and constant contact with the American community” through its diplomatic missions and that the situation was” still changing.” The secretary said there are 19, 000 Indians, including 9, 000 kids, in Bangladesh and added that most of the students had returned to India in July.
He claimed that India was keeping tabs on the state of immigrants there.
” There are reports of activities being taken by various organizations and groups to protect and support their welfare.” We’re happy about that, but we’ll be very upset until law and order return, he said.
Mr. Jaishankar previously provided an update on India’s reaction to the developments in Bangladesh earlier in the day. On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a conference to review the situation.
Five American states share a border with Bangladesh, which was formed in 1971 after a war with Pakistan. According to federal statistics from past November, around 915.35km of the boundary is not fenced.
From a safety standpoint, Ms Hasina’s career was comparatively quiet for India as she had cracked down on anti-India extremists in her state. Additionally, she had granted state ‘ bordering Bangladesh the right to secure trade routes.
According to a spokesperson, top Border Security Force ( BSF ) officials visited the Bangladeshi border on Monday to review “operational preparedness and strategic deployment of BSF in these crucial border areas.”
The BSF said “it has received strict instruction from the government to not allow anyone into the country without valid documents”.
After aggressive protests broke out in Bangladesh, trains between India and Bangladesh were suspended “indefinitely.” They had been suspended since mid-July.
On Monday, following Ms Hasina’s departure, the north-eastern condition of Meghalaya imposed a nighttime curfew along its borders with Bangladesh.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appealed for peace in West Bengal, the position with the longest border with Bangladesh and has strong linguistic and cultural relationships.
The border’s Petrapole area interface has also been closed, with no longer moving goods there. Hunderte of Indian cars are reportedly stranded on Bangladesh’s area, according to reports.
India “does not have too many choices at this point in time,” a top minister told the BBC on Monday.
” We have to strengthen handle on our frontiers. Anything else would be construed as meddling”.
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