Indian foreign secretary due today in a sudden visit

Indian external affairs secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla will reach Dhaka in an unscheduled visit today (Tuesday).

Shringla ‘is positive’ about his visit to Dhaka on Tuesday, a diplomat with knowledge of the visit of the Indian foreign secretary told New Age Monday night.

He would call on prime minister Sheikh Hasina, foreign minister AK Abdul Momen and state minister for foreign affairs M Shahriar Alam.

Shringla would hold a meeting with his Bangladesh counterpart Masud Bin Momen.

It will be Shringla’s second visit as foreign secretary, which is taking place within the five months of his first visit in March.

The visit will take place amid reports of China and Pakistan making an effort to improve bilateral relations with Bangladesh, as well as an alleged campaign launched by a section of Indian media against Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina and several institutions.

Bangladesh deputy high commission in Kolkata on Friday condemned a disinformation campaign launched by three Indian web portals involving top Bangladesh dignitaries and institutions.

Several web portals based in India’s North Eastern region have published totally ‘false and baseless articles and rumours’ against prime minister, ministers, advisers, military and intelligence agencies of Bangladesh, the deputy high commission said in a press release.

‘We understand that these web portals, namely theeasternlink.com, nenow.in and lookeast.in, are operated by or under the auspices of a discredited Indian journalist who has a prior track record of disseminating false information about Bangladesh,’ it said without mentioning the name of the person.

In 2017, the same journalist published a baseless article suggesting a deadly coup and murder attempt against the prime minister of Bangladesh, it said.

In addition, these portals have published spurious and provocative articles about Bangladesh’s military and security forces, lacking any sense of journalistic integrity,’ it added.

The Bangladesh mission condemned the disinformation campaign targeting Bangladesh and urged all concerned to disregard the false information ‘peddled by these web portals’.

A good number of Bangladesh officials think that these web portals might be funded by influential Indian quarters, several officials said.

Shringla was immediate past Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net