Muhammad Yunus, interim head of the Bangladesh authorities. File | Photo Credit: Reuters
Speaking at an Asia Society dialog that was moderated by Asia Society’s President and former Foreign Minister of South Korea, Kyung Wha Kang, Prof. Yunus blamed “one nation” for the dearth of motion within the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and stated India didn’t just like the student-people motion that has led to the present downturn in India-Bangladesh relation.
“We have issues with India proper now due to what the scholars have performed. They are internet hosting Hasina, the previous Prime Minister, who created all these issues and killed the younger individuals, and that creates quite a lot of stress between India and Bangladesh. There is quite a lot of faux information coming from the opposite facet that these are Islamists and that they’re Taliban,” stated Prof. Yunus, referring to the political downside that has been persevering with since former Prime Minister Hasina fled to India on August 5, 2024 after her authorities was overthrown within the student-people motion.
Mr. Yunus, who’s travelling within the United States for the UNGA’s annual session, held quite a few conferences over the previous few days and on September 23 met with Sergio Gor, Special Envoy of U.S. President Donald Trump for South and Central Asia and raised the significance of connecting Nepal, Bhutan, in addition to India’s northeast.
He additionally informed Mr. Gor, who can also be the Ambassador-Designate of the United States for India, that Bangladesh has “intensified” efforts to restart the SAARC.
In his dialog, he highlighted the significance of SAARC within the South Asian area and stated the grouping is necessary for a number of causes in South Asia, like training, enterprise and connectivity.
“You can spend money on Bangladesh. SAARC is product of very shut relations. The entire thought of SAARC was born in Bangladesh. We promoted this concept from capital to capital within the South Asian area, selling SAARC. Our historical past offers us the chance however in some way it didn’t match into the politics of 1 nation. We really feel very sorry for that,” stated Chief Adviser Yunus.
The final SAARC summit was held in Kathmandu in November 2014. The subsequent summit was due in Islamabad, however India cancelled participation within the assembly after a terror assault in Uri. After India determined to withdraw from the summit, citing “cross border terrorism” from Pakistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan additionally withdrew from the summit.
Published – September 26, 2025 12:02 am IST
