Bangladeshi FM cancels India visit amid protests

DHAKA, Bangladesh

Bangladesh's foreign minister on Thursday cancelled a planned visit to New Delhi amid protests in northeastern India over controversial changes to the country's citizenship bill.

Abul Kalam Abdul Momen was scheduled to reach India on Thursday to attend two high-level conferences and hold talks with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishanker.

Bangladesh tried to downplay this urgent cancelation.

"He has a jam-packed schedule due to victory month programs including Dec. 16 Victory Day and that's why he has cancelled his scheduled India visit," Tohidul Islam, a senior information officer of Foreign Ministry, told Anadolu Agency.

A lower-level diplomat will represent Dhaka in New Delhi instead of the foreign minister, Islam said, denying that the citizenship bill had anything to do with it.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan was scheduled to travel Friday to the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya on invitation by chief minister Conrad Kongkal Sangma.

"We do not want to call it cancellation,” public relations officer of the ministry, Sharif Mahmud Apu, told Anadolu Agency.

“Rather, we prefer to say postponement as our minister is expected to visit Meghalaya in a convenient time later."

Because of unrest in India regarding a citizenship amendment bill, the environment is not "in favor of a bilateral tour,” he said.

"We hope that this visit will be held at any convenient period in January or February in the coming year.”

Indian media covered the cancelation of the visits by its close regional ally in light of rising political tension in the region.

India’s parliament Wednesday passed a bill that would grant citizenship to six minorities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh -- all Muslim-majority nations in South Asia. It only needs a signature by the president to become law.

The bill was coupled by statements by Indian officials saying minorities in the three countries were not safe that drew strong reactions from Bangladesh.

Momen said Tuesday that India was losing its secular character by making religion a basis for citizenship and excluding Muslims from the list.

Citing the new amendment to citizenship bill as discriminatory and ethnically biased, Delwar Hossain, professor of International relations of Dhaka University, told Anadolu Agency that the bill cannot be anywhere of the world.

"It's such a controversial and partial bill that has been rejected by Indian people," he opined, adding that Bangladesh should stay alert about any adverse impact of it as India’s home minister has already accused Bangladesh of abusing the rights of minorities.

Meanwhile, in the backdrop of violence and curfew in India's state of Assam following the adoption of the Citizenship Amendment Bill, security has been heightened at the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Guwahati, according to a foreign ministry statement Thursday.

Referring to an attack on a convoy of the Assistant High Commissioner in Guwahati and vandalization of two signposts of the mission, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Ms. Riva Ganguly Das has also been asked to ensure the security of Bangladeshi diplomats, the statement added.