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Former Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Veena Sikri, has strongly condemned the statement made by Bangladesh's Chief Advisor, Muhammad Yunus, claiming that Bangladesh is the "only guardian" of the Indian Ocean for the region, as the seven northeastern Indian states are "landlocked." Sikri called Yunus' comments "shocking" and emphasised that the Northeast is an integral part of India.
After Yunus made these remarks during his four-day visit to China, the former Indian envoy asserted that the Nobel Laureate had "no right" to make such a statement. Speaking to ANI, Sikri said, "Very shocking statement by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus. He has absolutely no right to make a statement like that. He knows that the northeast is an integral part of India, and we have had very close discussions with the Government of Bangladesh on access by Northeast India to the Bay of Bengal, and there are formal agreements on this." Sikri further warned Bangladesh that if it 'not interested' in granting connectivity rights to Northeast India, it could not expect riparian rights in return. "We must condemn the statement," she said, "I can tell Bangladesh one thing very clearly: if they are not interested in giving connectivity rights to Northeast India, then they cannot expect any rights as a riparian. So they should know this very clearly, and they should not have any illusions about this," she added. Further, Defence expert Praful Bakshi also responded to Yunus' statement, saying that India had created Bangladesh and did not take any cartographic advantage while doing so. Bakshi expressed concerns that Bangladesh, China, and Pakistan have been discussing ways to strangle India by exploiting the Siliguri Corridor, a vital connectivity route for the northeastern states. He warned that India could take similar action against Bangladesh, cutting off their sea access. "We created Bangladesh. We did not take any cartographic advantage while creating Bangladesh. Bangladesh, China, and Pakistan have, of late, been talking about the chicken's neck (Siliguri corridor) and about strangling India and taking advantage. Now Bangladesh is saying that China must help and get into the seven landlocked Indian states, which depend on the Siliguri corridor," Bakshi said. "They don't realise that we can do a similar thing on the opposite side of Bangladesh. We can cut across the sea and strangle them," he added. Bakshi also noted that Yunus is attempting to involve China in creating problems for the seven northeastern states, which is already happening. He assured that the Indian government is aware of the situation and has taken action, without elaborating further. "Yunus is thinking that he will involve China into creating problems for the seven states, which they are already doing. Not just China, but many other agencies are at work in the northeast," he said. "The Indian government will not go running to the media and create noise about it; the government has already gotten into action. Even Yunus knows what India is going to do," he added. (ANI)
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