Jamaat ameer tells Reuters he met Indian diplomat in secret

Jamaat Ameer Shafiqur Rahman has told Reuters that he met an Indian diplomat in secret earlier this year.

Unlike diplomats from other countries who visited him openly, the Indian official asked that the meeting remain confidential, the international news agency quoted Shafiqur as saying.

“We must become open to all and to each other. There is no alternative to developing our relationship,” he said.

India’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment on Shafiqur’s statement. But an Indian government source confirmed contacts with various parties, says the report.

Asked about Jamaat’s historical closeness to Pakistan, Shafiqur says: “We maintain relations in a balanced way with all. We are never interested in leaning toward any one country. Rather, we respect all and want balanced relations among nations.”

The report says Jamaat-e-Islami, the once-banned Islamist party, poised for its strongest electoral showing in polls in February, is open to joining a unity government and has held talks with several parties.

“We want to see a stable nation for at least five years. If the parties come together, we’ll run the government together,” Shafiqur said in an interview at his office in a residential area in Dhaka on Wednesday (31 December).