PM to visit Bangladesh in Sept

Putting behind him the controversy over his unguarded remarks about political forces in Bangladesh, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today telephoned his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina and spoke to her. The government announced the PM would visit Dhaka on September 6.

In his interraction with editors last week the PM said: “With Bangladesh, our relations are quite good. But we must reckon that at least 25 per cent of the population of Bangladesh swear by the Jamaat-e-Islami and they are very anti-Indian and they are in the clutches, many times, of the ISI (of Pakistan). So, the political landscape in Bangladesh can change at any time. We do not know what these terrorist elements, who have a hold on the Jamaat-i-Islami elements in Bangladesh, can be up to.”

Although India generally favours the Hasina regime, in no time, Bangladesh was in the grips of a political storm following the remarks. To assuage feelings, the PM telephoned Hasina and announced his visit to the neighbouring country.