New Delhi [India], August 5 : Former Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh & Foreign Secretary, Harsh Shringla said on Monday that there is a possibility of a foreign hand behind the stir against Sheikh Hasina.
He said that it's in India's interest that peace is restored in Dhaka.
"It is in India's interest that peace is restored in Dhaka, India will engage with whoever is in power arrangement in Bangladesh. People-to-people relations are strong between the two countries."
He said that the economic factors and opportunists have contributed to this political crisis in Bangladesh.
Shringla said that it appears that the students' protest has led to the crisis, but mainly it is the economic crisis that has been brewing since COVID-19.
"On the face of it, it has been the quota issue that the students have put forward, but there are underlying economic factors. Covid-19 has hit the Bangladesh economy very hard. The Ukraine conflict has resulted in a spike in the prices of essential commodities from fuel to food to fertilizers, which Bangladesh imports. They've had a very difficult balance of payments situation. Inflation has gone up by 17 per cent to 20 per cent," Shringla said.
He added, "All of this is essentially now coming to a situation where people, especially younger people, are expressing their frustration on the streets."
Talking about the opportunists, he said, "Opportunists, whether it's the opposition BNP or the Jamaat-e-Islami, which is the radical, pro-Pakistan Islamist grouping that is very active on the streets, they have joined the protests and they have brought in that violence into the protests. You cannot rule out the involvement of foreign powers who are inimical to Bangladesh's interests and, frankly, to our security interests also. You cannot rule out the fact that certain interests have been fishing in troubled waters."
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