India yesterday said Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri's recent visit to Dhaka would help sustain and advance ties between the two countries.

Asked at the weekly media briefing to comment on Misri's talks with Bangladesh's interim government, Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said, "It is our understanding that the foreign secretary's visit will help in sustaining the bilateral engagement between India and Bangladesh to address concerns as well as advance the substantive issues in the relationship."

Jaiswal said the readout issued by the MEA on Misri's statement to the media in Dhaka, which emphasised continuing the mutually beneficial cooperation between India and Bangladesh. The MEA also emphasised India's desire to work closely with the interim government and relayed New Delhi's concerns, including those related to the safety and welfare of minorities.

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Bangladesh's treatment of minorities, a source of concern for India

Jaiswal said that while in Dhaka, Misri took up the issue of what India said were attacks on minorities in Bangladesh with the leaders of that country and stressed that it was in Bangladesh's own interest to protect the minorities.

Highlighting the impact of the visit, Jaiswal said, a day after Misri's Dhaka visit, Press Secretary to the Chief Adviser of Bangladesh Shafiqul Alam issued a statement mentioning that 88 incidents of attacks on minorities had taken place and 70 people had been arrested in connection with them.

The MEA spokesman said, "It is our expectation from the Bangladesh government that it will do the needful [to protect minorities]."

Asked about Indian newspapers' reports that the foreign secretary conveyed to a parliamentary standing committee on December 11 that New Delhi does not endorse ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina's comments while staying in India, Jaiswal said, "It is not our practice to comment on speculative and selective reports about privileged matters."

He said the parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of External Affairs is a privileged forum.

Asked about the reported suggestion by some members of the parliamentary standing committee about the possibility of a visit to Bangladesh by an Indian political delegation, Jaiswal said, "I do not want to comment on the parliamentary committee's proceedings."

Replying to a query on media reports about Bangladesh's alleged deployment of Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones along the border with India, Jaiswal said, "We have seen the reports which came out recently, but we are unable to confirm their authenticity."