His remarks came amid calls for Sheikh Hasina’s extradition. Sheikh Hasina was forced to flee to India in August last year, when her 15-year rule ended during the violence that left hundreds of people dead and thousands injured. She was last month sentenced to death in absentia by a special tribunal in Dhaka for “crimes against humanity” over her government’s brutal crackdown on student-led protests last year. Though Dhaka has demanded Sheikh Hasina’s extradition, India is yet to accept the demand of the neighbouring nation.
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S Jaishankar on India-Bangladesh ties
Speaking about the India-Bangladesh ties, S Jaishankar highlighted India’s stance on the need for a credible democratic process in the neighbouring country. Referring to past political issues in Bangladesh, Jaishankar said, “What we heard was that people in Bangladesh, particularly those who are now in power, had an issue with how the elections were conducted earlier. Now, if the issue was the election, the first order of business would be to do a fair election.”
“As a democratic country… we would like to see the will of the people ascertained. I’m quite confident that whatever comes out… would have a balanced and mature view about the relationship and, hopefully things would improve,” he said at Hindustan Times Leadership Summit.
On Putin’s India visit
When S Jaishankar was asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent India visit, he said the India-Russia partnership has been among the “steadiest big relationships” in the last 70-80 years. He disagreed that Putin’s visit could complicate India’s negotiations with the US on a bilateral trade agreement.
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“I think everybody knows that India has relations with all the major countries in the world,” Jaishankar said at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit. “I think for any country to expect to have a veto or a say in how we develop our relations with others is not a reasonable proposition,” he said.Jaishankar was asked whether President Putin’s two-day visit to New Delhi — which placed strong emphasis on boosting the economic dimension of India-Russia relations — would influence New Delhi’s ongoing trade negotiations with the US. “Because remember, the others can expect the same. I think we’ve always made it very clear that we have multiple relationships. We have a freedom of choice,” he said.
“We talk about what is called strategic autonomy and that continues and I cannot imagine why anybody would have reason to expect the contrary,” he added.
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He acknowledged that the Trump administration has been heavily focused on trade, and emphasised that India’s approach to the discussions is guided entirely by its national interests.
“I think clearly right now trade is the most important issue there. We have, it’s clearly very central to the thinking in Washington, much more than it was to earlier administrations, which is something which we have recognised and we are prepared to meet,” he said. “But we are prepared to meet it on reasonable terms. I mean, for those of you who think that diplomacy is about pleasing somebody else I’m sorry, that’s not my view of diplomacy. I mean, to me, it is about defending our national interests,” he said.
