The Bangladesh government on Wednesday urged India to immediately close reported offices of the banned Awami League and stop anti-Bangladesh activities by the party’s fugitive leaders living there.

In a press statement issued in Dhaka, the government said its attention had been drawn to the “reported establishment of offices of the banned political party Bangladesh Awami League in the Indian capital of Delhi and Kolkata.”

“This development comes in the backdrop of growing anti-Bangladesh activities undertaken by the leadership of the Bangladesh Awami League from being based on the Indian soil,” the statement said.
According to Dhaka, many senior Awami League leaders remain in India. They are “absconding in several criminal cases in Bangladesh on account of grievous crimes committed against humanity.”

The statement noted that on 21 July, some senior leaders of the party tried to hold a public outreach at the Delhi Press Club under the cover of an NGO. They also distributed booklets to journalists. “Several reports in Indian media affirm increasing overtures of the Party while being on the Indian soil,” it added.

Dhaka said that “any form of political activity campaigning against the interests of Bangladesh by Bangladeshi nationals, particularly by the absconding leaders/activists of a banned political party, staying on Indian soil, legally or illegally, including the establishment of offices is an unambiguous affront against the people and State of Bangladesh.”

The statement warned that such activities “risk upholding the good-neighborly relations with India driven by mutual trust and mutual respect, and lends serious implications for the political transformation underway in Bangladesh.”

It also cautioned that the development “may trigger public sentiment in Bangladesh which may in turn impact the ongoing efforts of the two countries in further enhancing the relationship between the two closest neighbors.”

“The Government of Bangladesh, therefore, would urge upon the Government of India to take immediate steps to ensure that no anti-Bangladesh activity is undertaken by any Bangladeshi national from being in the Indian soil, including not permitting or supporting any such activities in any manner and an immediate closure of the political office(s) of the banned Bangladesh Awami League on the Indian soil,” the statement read.