Former Indian envoy highlights situation of minorities in open letter to people of Bangladesh, calls elections only solution

In an interview with ANI, Sikri called the fair, inclusive and free elections as the only solution to the situation in Bangladesh. She said that India has enjoyed the "closest relationship" with the people of Bangladesh and they are concerned about the situation in the country. She called the attacks on minorities in Bangladesh a "matter of concern" and worry for the people of India.

Veena Sikri said, "I think first and foremost, our appeal on behalf of the people of India to the people of Bangladesh is one of friendship because we have recalled that the people of India, the people of Bangladesh for the last 50 years since 1971 and before that even, we have enjoyed the closest relationship with the people of Bangladesh based on friendship, peace, and understanding, and we want to continue that. So, this is the first and most important thing that we want to continue the friendship between the peoples of India and Bangladesh. So, that is the message we have."

"Secondly, we are very concerned. What is happening in Bangladesh today? This is the second most important aspect that what is happening in Bangladesh since July, August, and beyond is a matter of great concern to us because we see that the situation is deteriorating and we see that there is in every area, it may be the situation within Bangladesh, it may be the situation of the economy, and more than anything else it's the situation of the attacks against the minorities. That is a matter of great concern and worry for the people," she added.

She said, "We are worried because, in the beginning, everybody was saying, oh this is a student uprising, this is a student revolution, spontaneous, and so on. But, then we saw that the Chief Adviser Professor Mohammad Yunus speaking in New York in September 2024 and he said at the Clinton Global Initiative that this is not spontaneous. This is meticulously planned and introduces the mastermind behind the whole series of events. And this mastermind is now an adviser in the interim government and the special assistant to Professor Mohammad Yunus, and we are seeing that, you know, the attacks on the minorities which started from the very afternoon of 5th of August and have continued till today."

A group of retired judges, bureaucrats, Army officials and other civil society members have penned an open letter to the "people of Bangladesh" expressing their "increasing alarm" and "deep concern" over the deteriorating situation in the neighbouring country.

The letter was sent in the "sincere hope" that this will help the Bangladesh people and India to continue together along the path of peace, friendship and understanding. Further, the open letter called for an "immediate end" to attacks on minorities, and their properties, adding that this situation is "intolerable and unacceptable" to the people of India.

Veena Sikri mentioned the statement given in the Indian parliament, where it was mentioned that over 2000 such attacks have taken place against Hindus, Buddhists and Christians.

Speaking about the attacks on minorities in Bangladesh, the former Indian High Commissioner said, "I think we saw recently a statement given even in the Indian parliament where more than 2000 such attacks on the Hindus, on the Buddhists, on the Christians, and absolutely no let-up of any kind. They have included rapes and lynchings and destruction of property, you know, seizing of property, destruction of business establishment, forcing individuals to leave their jobs, whether they are professors in the university, whether they are Hindu teachers, and we saw the attacks on the Buddhists in Khagrachari again, such brutal attacks and in fact the people of Khagrachari, the Buddhist community, they could not even celebrate their major festival and we saw even during the Durga Puja festival in Bangladesh recently in the month of October, the golden crown of a deity of Jeshoreshwari was stolen, and this was a crown gifted by Prime Minister Modi when he was there. Although everything was on CCTV, no action was taken."

Veena Sikri recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi's message to Bangladesh Interim government's chief adviser on August 8, where he mentioned about early return to normalcy and expressed concern about the situation of minorities in the neighbouring country.

Speaking on how Indian government engaged with Bangladesh since Muhammad Yunus took over, Sikri said, "In keeping with the feeling of friendship and concern about Bangladesh, we saw that our Prime Minister right on the 8th of August itself when he sent his message of solicitation to Professor Mohammad Yunus, wished him the best and also spoke about an early return to normalcy, and he expressed his concern about the situation of the Hindus and other minorities. On 16th of August, President Muhamma Yunus telephoned our Prime Minister, assured him that I will give the highest priority to, you know, the security of the Buddhist and Hindus and Christians and other minorities in Bangladesh. But this has not happened and till today, there was not only the attacks continuing, but there was complete denial."

"Then on 9th of December when our Foreign Secretary Vikram Mishri went there for the Foreign Office consultations, and he explained in everything, he said that these talks were frank, candid, and constructive. So, he explained the situation very clearly on the situation of the minorities. The very next day we saw before that, we, you know, the media had been saying no, there is no such thing happening, you know, the Indian media is making propaganda and so on, and we saw that, you know, even, even though the media now is completely gagged in Bangladesh, that is the third reason why we have addressed this letter to the people of Bangladesh because we feel they may not know much of what is going on," she added.

Veena Sikri said that media in Bangladesh was fully under control and they are not allowed to express freely. She stated that newspapers have been attacked in Bangladesh and called it a matter of concern.

She said, "The media is fully under control. The media is not allowed to express freely what they want to say. They cannot report on the situation in Bangladesh. If they are reporting, then they are stopped. Then even the major newspapers had been attacked and surrounded and so this is a matter of great concern, to make the people of Bangladesh informed about it, we are telling them about this. So even though the previous week before Vikram Misri went, the media had been saying nothing is happening Indian media propaganda. But the day after Vikram Misri was there, the government in Bangladesh announced that instances have been found and 70 people have been arrested. So all this shows that the situation is serious and we are seeing that even the newspaper owners Association of Bangladesh, as we have mentioned in the letter, has expressed its concern about the mob violence, about the mobocracy."

Stressing that there is no rule of law and the interim regime is not constitutionally valid, she also talked about mobocracy in Bangladesh. She called free and inclusive elections the only solution for the situation in Bangladesh.

She said, "There is no rule of law, even this interim regime is not constitutionally valid because although they are sworn in on this present constitution of Bangladesh, the constitution does not allow any interim government. Then we saw that even the actions that they had taken, mobocracy surround the judges asked them to leave, surround the teachers asked them to resign and new people are being appointed under what basis, under what authority. So, all this complete, absolutely illegal action, this is very worrisome to us. Even all communities in India are worried."

"The Citizens of Fraternity led by Yakub Qureshi, who is my batchmate, they have expressed their concern and as Indian Muslims, they are saying they are deeply concerned at these attacks on the minorities. which is against the tenets of Islam. So to bring all this attention to the people of Bangladesh, we have said that we want the attacks to stop, and we feel the only outcome, the only possible solution is free, fair and inclusive elections as early as possible," she added.

The letter was sent to the Bangladesh High Commission on Monday morning and bore a total of 685 signatories. These include 19 retired Judges,139 Rtd Bureaucrats including 34 Ambassadors, 300 Vice Chancellors, 192 Rtd Armed forces officers and 35 persons from Civil Society.

The open letter reads, "We are addressing this Open Letter to you, the People of Bangladesh, in the sincere hope that this will help the people of both Bangladesh and India to continue together along the path of peace, friendship and understanding."

"The people of India view with increasing alarm and concern the deteriorating situation in Bangladesh. The worst brunt of the chaotic situation prevailing in Bangladesh is being borne by the 15 million strong minority communities of Bangladesh, including Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, as well as the Shias, Ahmadiyyas and others. The agenda of the Islamists appears to be to terrorize and drive the religious minority population out of Bangladesh. Hindus and other minority communities across Bangladesh are stoutly resisting such attempts by Islamist groups. They are seeking protection of their rights as citizens of Bangladesh, as assured through the nation's Constitution," it added. (ANI)