Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Tuesday paid homage to late Ambassador Syed Muazzem Ali crediting him for “playing an important role in taking the India-Bangladesh partnership to its current historical heights.” In a condolence message to his Bangladesh counterpart Dr AK Abdul Momen, Jaishankar called the former High Commissioner to India “a mature and sober diplomat and a key interlocutor in steering this vital partnership.”
“It is a personal loss for me as well, since we maintained a warm relationship from the time of my tenure as foreign secretary,” he said about the late envoy who died on Dec 30 while under treatment for pneumonia at Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka. He was back in Dhaka on Dec 19 ending a five-year tenure as Bangladesh envoy to India.
Jaishankar expressed deep condolence “on the tragic and untimely demise of a true Bangladeshi patriot who was also a friend of India”, the Bangladesh High Commission said.