NEW DELHI
\nIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered support on Friday to the interim leader of Bangladesh, who took power after prime minister Sheikh Hasina\u2019s ouster on August 5.
\nThe comments were made following a phone call between Modi and Bangladesh\u2019s Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who is heading the caretaker administration formed after Hasina fled to India.
\nHer fall has raised concerns in New Delhi, which has key investments and close security ties with its eastern neighbour.
\nModi \u201creaffirmed India\u2019s support for democratic, stable, peaceful and progressive Bangladesh\u201d, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
\nHasina\u2019s 15-year rule saw widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extra-judicial killings of her political opponents.
\nBut Modi\u2019s government preferred Hasina over her rivals from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which it saw as closer to Islamist groups.
\nIn the immediate aftermath of Hasina\u2019s fall, attacks on Hindus across Bangladesh were reported. The security situation has since far improved.
\nHindus are the largest minority faith in Bangladesh and were considered a steadfast support base for Hasina\u2019s party, the Awami League.
\nModi \u201cunderlined the importance of ensuring the safety and protection of Hindus and all other minority communities in Bangladesh\u201d, India\u2019s foreign ministry said.
\nBangladesh\u2019s new interim government has already said it is committed to restoring law and order and to protect all minorities.
\nAnother general joins government
\nA second retired military general was sworn into Bangladesh\u2019s interim government on Friday, one of four new additions to the caretaker administration formed after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina.
\nJahangir Alam Chowdhury, 71, and three others joined the \u201ccouncil of advisers\u201d, the de facto cabinet now running Bangladesh under the leadership of Muhammad Yunus.
\nChowdhury was a three-star general and second-in-command of the army, but retired in 2010 \u2014 the year after Hasina took office.
\nThe two had butted heads in the aftermath of a savage mutiny by troops against senior military officers that raised fears of a power struggle between the armed forces and the government.
\nThe 2009 mutiny killed 74 people over two days, including 57 senior officers, some of whom were hacked to death or burned alive before their bodies were dumped in sewers or shallow graves.
\nMore than 150 soldiers were sentenced to death in 2013 for participating in the uprising, which began partly in anger that their pleas for better pay and treatment had been ignored.
\nTheir trials were criticised for procedural irregularities and claims that the defendants were tortured while in custody, which Hasina\u2019s government denied.
\nChowdhury was tasked with leading a \u201cneutral\u201d army probe into the mutiny soon after it occurred, competing with a rival investigation already set up by Hasina\u2019s administration.
\nAlso sworn in on Friday were former cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder, Cambridge-educated economist Wahiduddin Mahmud, and infrastructure expert Fouzul Kabir Khan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW DELHI Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered support on Friday to the interim leader of Bangladesh, who took power after prime minister Sheikh Hasina\u2019s ouster on August 5. The comments were made following a phone call between Modi and Bangladesh\u2019s Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who is heading the caretaker administration formed after Hasina fled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317096,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-425548","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n