Delhi violence is India’s domestic issue: foreign secretary

Dhaka considers the recent Delhi violence as India's domestic issue and expects the country's authorities to control it, Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen said today.

"We are watching. As [it is] a domestic issue, we would want India to control it. It is our expectation," he told reporters after a seminar on Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) organised by the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) at its auditorium in the capital.

The comment came a day before Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla's two-day visit to Bangladesh.

The visit comes following waves of violence in India over the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The clashes have left 42 people dead and more than 200 injured.

The enactment of the CAA by the Indian government late last year triggered widespread protests across India, but the latest one in Delhi turned most violent.

Asked about some of the political parties' demand that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bangladesh be cancelled against the backdrop of the Delhi violence, Masud said PM Modi will be coming to Bangladesh to attend Bangabandhu's birth centenary programme on March 17 at the invitation of the Bangladesh government.

"We are going to hold a mega programme. India played the biggest role during our liberation war and other times, so, we would want the Indian prime minister to attend our programme," he said.

Talking on the visit of Harsh Vardhan Shringla, he said the objective was mainly to lay the groundwork for Modi's visit.