NEW DELHI: The ministry of external affairs (MEA) on Tuesday said the government has no involvement in a proposed media event to be attended by former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, stressing that it is being organised by a “private media entity” and that New Delhi does not endorse any views that may be expressed at the forum.The event is scheduled for Wednesday, on the second anniversary of Sheikh Hasina’s resignation as Bangladesh prime minister. She stepped down on August 5, 2024, following weeks of student-led protests and has been living in Delhi since then.“The interaction you refer to is being organised by a private media entity. The government has no involvement whatsoever in it. Neither does it endorse any views that may be expressed at the forum,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters during a bi-weekly media briefing.His remarks came a day after Bangladesh’s state minister for foreign affairs, Shama Obaed Islam, asked New Delhi to clarify its stand on a possible public appearance by the Awami League chief.“We are moving forward with India with a forward-looking approach. We don’t want it to be damaged, and I firmly believe that India doesn’t want it either. So, India has to clarify whether it is supporting it or not,” she said while addressing reporters at the ministry of foreign affairs in Dhaka.
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The issue was also discussed during a meeting between Bangladesh’s foreign affairs adviser Humayun Kabir and India’s newly appointed High Commissioner to Dhaka, Dinesh Trivedi, on Monday.The event at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia in New Delhi will mark Sheikh Hasina’s first public appearance since her ouster. The former prime minister, who recently announced plans to return to Bangladesh by December, has been sentenced to death by an International Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka for “crimes against humanity” in connection with her government’s crackdown on student protesters.She has rejected the verdict, calling it political vendetta.(with ANI inputs)