India's Citizenship Amendment Act Their Internal Matter: FM

Foreign Minister and Joint General Secretary of Bangladesh Awami League Hasan Mahmud has said India's Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is their internal matter.

"As Bangladesh is a neighboring country, we are keeping an eye on the matter," he said on Saturday.

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Hasan made the remarks when journalists wanted to know about Bangladesh position regarding the law during a view exchange meeting in the city.

The Citizenship Amendment Act provides a fast track to naturalisation for Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who fled to Hindu-majority India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan before Dec. 31, 2014.

The law excludes Muslims, who are a majority in all three nations.

Responding to a question on US remarks regarding Bangladesh election, the Foreign Minister said any office of the United States can give their opinion.

They said the opposition did not participate but out of 44 registered political parties in Bangladesh, 29 participated in the elections, he said.

And non-participation of any particular political party is not the responsibility of the government, it is the responsibility of that party, he added.

"That party instead called to resist the election. For that purpose, they incited violence in the country and only those who were involved in that violence were arrested," Hasan said.

The United States has said that they are working to advance the partnership and relations with Bangladesh, he said.

"We are also working to make the relations with the United States closer and expand our multi-dimensional relations," he said.

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Hasan said most of the countries, including the United States, have expressed their intention to advance relations with Bangladesh in the future.

Governments and heads of state of about 80 countries of the world have congratulated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

"Even the President of the United States has written to the Prime Minister expressing his intention to take the relationship to the next evel," he added._UNB