India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri to visit Bangladesh next week :::: "Masood Azhar is involved in cross-border terror attacks. We want strong action from Pakistan"

 "Foreign Secretary is scheduled to visit Bangladesh on the 9th of December...," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters here. 

He said the Foreign Secretary will meet his counterpart and there will be several other meetings during the visit. 

Foreign Office consultations led by the Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri is a structured engagement between India and Bangladesh. We look forward to this meeting...". 

It will be the first high-level visit by a senior Indian government official to Bangladesh since the interim government came to power on August 8 after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina as prime minister on Aug 5th, 2024.

Moreover the meeting will come amid tensions between the two countries after some developments lately.

On fugitive Jihadi Masood Azhar, the External Affairs spokesman Jaiswal said: "He is an UN-designated terrorist. We demand that strong action be taken against him so that he is brought to justice. There has been a denial that he is not there in Pakistan. 

"What you are referring to, if the reports are correct then it exposes the duplicity of Pakistan. 

Masood Azhar is involved in cross-border terror attacks in India. We want that strong action to be taken against him." 

Azhar is reportedly made an on-line address recently. 

Timed to mark the centennial of the dissolution of the Turkish caliphate in 1924—which laid spiritual and temporal authority over all Muslims—Azhar’s speech will vow to renew jihadist operations against India and Israel and seeking to establish a new Islamic order.

Earlier Bangladesh Foreign Adviser Md Touhid Hosain said the scheduled Foreign Secretary-level Foreign Office Consultation (FOC) between Bangladesh and India will take place in Dhaka on December 9 or 10th. 

Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Md Jashim Uddin will lead the host delegation.  

On the recent developments in Syria, MEA official spokesperson said:

 "We have taken note of the recent escalation in fighting in the north of Syria. 

"We are closely following the situation. There are about 90 Indian nationals in Syria, including those who are working in various UN organizations. Our Embassies remain in close contact with our nationals for their safety and security...".   

On Russian president Vladimir Putin's probable visit to India next year, Jaiswal said:

 "We have with Russia an arrangement of annual summits. The last annual summit was held in Moscow, for which the Prime Minister travelled to Moscow.

 The next one is scheduled to be held in India next year, that is, and the dates for the same will be worked out through diplomatic channels."

India is hopeful that the situation in South Korea will "stabilise soon".

MEA spokesperson said at the press conference:

 "South Korea and India have a strong economic and political partnership. We are monitoring the developments. We have very strong investment trade linkages and defence cooperation with South Korea. 

We also have very strong people-to-people ties. We also have a large number of Indian nationals who live there. 

We continue to maintain a close watch so that if there is any eventuality or anything that may have a bearing on the safety of our Indian nationals as also bears on our interests. 

We hope that the situation in the country to stabilise soon."

ends