"Dressed in black for the occasion, India's Foreign Minister S Jaishankar met Tarique Rahman, son of the deceased former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, with sombre expressions on their faces. Khaleda had passed away the previous day, on December 30, and Jaishankar was among a large group of regional leaders who had gathered in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, for her funeral. Jaishankar handed Rahman, who has taken over the leadership of Khaleda's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), a letter from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi."
"Where for millions of her supporters in Bangladesh, she represented a heroic struggle against military rule in the 1980s that first brought her to power in 1991, India viewed her with suspicion and distrust. For decades, the BNP had an alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh's largest Islamist group that advocates for stronger ties with Pakistan, India's arch-enemy. Meanwhile, India treated Khaleda's rival, Sheikh Hasina, and her avowedly secular Awami League party as its natural partners."
India's Foreign Minister S Jaishankar met Tarique Rahman at Khaleda Zia's funeral and delivered a letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi while publicly conveying condolences. Jaishankar expressed confidence that Khaleda's vision and values will guide the development of India-Bangladesh partnership. India historically viewed Khaleda and her Bangladesh Nationalist Party with suspicion because of BNP's alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami and perceived ties favoring Pakistan, while treating Sheikh Hasina's Awami League as a natural partner. With national elections approaching in Bangladesh, New Delhi's cordial engagement with Rahman suggests a potential pivot toward warmer bilateral relations between India and the BNP.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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