Sending Hasina back: India says it doesn’t answer hypothetical questions
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External affairs ministry says dev projects in Bangladesh will resume once turmoil ends
India today said questions about sending back former prime minister Sheikh Hasina to Bangladesh "lie in the domain of hypothesis and it is not our practice to answer hypothetical questions".
Randhir Jaiswal, spokesman of India's Ministry of External Affairs, gave this response when answering questions about Hasina's "deportation" to Bangladesh and whether India has received any formal request from that country about sending her back.
His reply also covered a question as to what is India's stand was now that the interim government in Bangladesh has revoked Hasina's diplomatic passport and she could stay in India for 45 days, of which three to four weeks have already elapsed.
Jaiswal reiterated that Hasina came to India on August 5 at "very short notice" and this sort of questions about sending her back "lies in the realm of hypothetical issues".
Replying to a query about the fate of India's bilateral development projects in Bangladesh in view of the turmoil in that country, Jaiswal said work on those and issuance of all categories of visa to the people of that country would resume once the turmoil ends there and the situation stabilises.
Pointing out that the work on the development projects and developmental cooperation with Bangladesh were impacted by the turmoil in that country, Jaiswal told the weekly media briefing in New Delhi that some of the people involved in the projects had to return due to the law and order situation.
"Once the situation in that country stabilises and normalcy is restored, we will engage with the interim government in Bangladesh and see how to take forward the projects," he said.
Jaiswal recalled the attack on the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre in Dhaka and said Bangladesh authorities had tried their best to control law and order.
"We are hopeful the turmoil will end and development cooperation will resume."
He said right now India is issuing visas only in emergency cases like medical visas and once the law and order situation in Bangladesh returns to normal, issuance of visas in other categories would resume.