(HT)
External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday paid a courtesy call on Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina but the ongoing Rohingya crisis did not come up for discussion during their brief meeting.
“The meeting with the prime minister of Bangladesh was more in the nature of a courtesy meeting. It was a very short meeting. The issue of Rohingya did not come up during the meeting for discussion,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar told reporters at a news conference here.
Kumar said that the discussion between Swaraj and Hasina was “purely bilateral”. “Warm encounter reflecting our historical and cultural ties. Courtesy call on Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by EAM,” he said in a tweet after the meeting.
Bangladesh, which is facing a big influx of Rohingyas from Myanmar, has called on the international community to intervene and put pressure on Myanmar to address the exodus. According to the UN estimates, over 410,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state into Bangladesh since August 25 when fresh wave of violence erupted.According to reports, the violence began when Rohingya militants attacked police posts in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
