Close on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the U.S., the Biden administration’s top official on human rights issues is visiting India and Bangladesh for talks with a number of senior government officials, and civil society activists. The official will also meet the Tibetan Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama, in a visit loaded with messaging for the region.
Announcing her travel, U.S. Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights and U.S. Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues Uzra Zeya, who is scheduled to land in Delhi on Saturday night, said she hoped to “advance shared solutions to global challenges” during her meetings here.
Ms. Zeya will be accompanied by the State Department’s point person for South Asia, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu and a senior USAID official. This is the first senior U.S. delegation to travel to India after Mr. Modi’s visit and meetings with U.S. President Joseph Biden in June, which resulted in a number of major strategic agreements being signed, but also saw several U.S. lawmakers expressing concerns over democracy and human rights in India.
Ms. Zeya is expected to meet Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra and other External Affairs Ministry officials during her visit.
“In India, [Ms. Zeya] will meet with senior government officials to discuss the deepening and enduring U.S.-India partnership, including advancing shared solutions to global challenges, democracy, regional stability, and cooperation on humanitarian relief,” the State Department said in a press statement, indicating that in both Delhi and Dhaka, she will meet civil society organisations working on media freedoms, gender equality, restrictions on NGOs and “marginalized religious and ethnic minorities”.
Ms. Zeya’s visit to India also follows comments by U.S. Ambassador Eric Garcetti, who expressed concerns last week over the continuing ethnic violence in Manipur. Asked for a response, the Ministry spokesperson said that “foreign diplomats would [not] usually comment on internal developments in India”.
Sources confirmed to The Hindu that Ms. Zeya would meet the Dalai Lama in Delhi. The Tibetan leader travelled from Dharamshala to Delhi on Saturday and was received by the “Sikyong” Penpa Tsering and other officials of the “Central Tibetan Administration”. In May 2022, Ms. Zeya visited the Tibetan leader in Dharamshala, which led to strong protests from Beijing that called Ms. Zeya’s appointment as U.S. special coordinator and her meetings as “interference” in China’s affairs.
Bangladesh visit
Ms. Zeya’s travel to Bangladesh is likely to spark comment as it is her first visit since the U.S. imposed a new visa policy, especially for Bangladesh on May 25, which threatens sanctions and visa bans against officials if the U.S. determines they are “obstructing” the democratic process for the elections scheduled for January 2024.
The policy has been sharply criticised in Bangladesh, where Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in statements that she believed the U.S. did not want her government to continue in power and has hinted that the US wanted military access to St. Martin’s Island in the Bay of Bengal, a charge the U.S. State Department has denied.
Ms. Zeya and Mr. Lu are also expected to discuss future plans for more than a million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar who are in camps in Bangladesh. According to reports, the U.S. delegation will visit the camp in Cox’s Bazaar.
“In Bangladesh, the Under Secretary will meet with senior officials to discuss shared humanitarian concerns, including the Rohingya refugee crisis, labour issues, human rights, free and fair elections, and combating trafficking in persons,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement.
New Delhi, which has close ties with Dhaka, has not so far publicly commented on the U.S. policy towards Bangladesh, and it remains to be seen whether the Modi government would intercede on behalf of the Hasina government during Ms. Zeya’s visit.
Published - July 08, 2023 09:10 pm IST
