Talks are routine, say officials; but this is the first such high level visit by an Indian official to Dhaka for talks since the ouster of PM Sheikh Hasina in August.
Amidst growing India-Bangladesh tensions over a number of issues, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri will meet Bangladesh Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus on Monday (December 9, 2024), in the first such visit by a senior Indian official to Dhaka since the new regime took over in August after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India. Mr. Misri will travel to Bangladesh for Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) and is expected to call on Mr. Yunus as well as Foreign Adviser Touhid Hussain, who had met External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in New York on the sidelines of a United Nations General Assembly session in September.
During the day long visit, Mr. Misri will hold talks with his counterpart Foreign Secretary Muhammad Jashim Uddin on bilateral issues, trade and other areas of cooperation, discuss contentious issues such as attacks on minorities and the jailing of a Hindu monk, the security of diplomatic missions after the attack on the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala, as well as the future of Indian projects in Bangladesh.
After the pause on the Adani electricity agreement with a high level enquiry into the tariffs charged, media reports in Dhaka said that the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Authority is moving to cancel another private agreement with Airtel for India to use Bangladesh as transit to provide broadband services to the northeastern states.
The Ministry of External Affairs had announced the visit last week calling it a “structured engagement between India and Bangladesh” that the government “looked forward” to. Officials on both sides have said that the talks are routine, and follow regular consultations on river water sharing, Ganges barrage talks, as well as meetings of Land officials and the opening of a new facility along the land border at Petrapole over the past few months.
‘Important point of bilateral engagement’
“It’s the first visit at senior official levels since the Interim Administration took over and would represent an important point of bilateral engagement at a time of increasing tension and acrimony,” former foreign secretary Harsh Shringla, who had earlier served as High Commissioner to Bangladesh, told The Hindu when asked about the significance of the visit.
However, in remarks indicating that the agenda for talks could be overshadowed by trouble areas, Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Adviser said on Sunday that the India-Bangladesh relationship since the ouster of former PM Sheikh Hasina has changed in “qualitative terms”.
“If we want to solve problems, we have to admit the problem first,” he said, speaking at a seminar on the revival of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). “It is not affecting only Bangladesh but also India. The traders of Kolkata are also being affected,” he said, indicating a slowdown on bilateral trade, movement, visas and connectivity between the two sides in the past four months.
Although Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma had said in a speech last month that both sides had “sustained positive momentum” on trade, traders on both sides have expressed concerns as anger in both countries aimed at each other has grown. On Sunday, three youth organisations of the main Bangladesh Nationalist Party marched towards the Indian High Commission in Dhaka to protest the attack by a mob on the Bangladeshi mission in Agartala in Tripura where the Bangladesh flag was torn. According to sources, the protests, which are among a number of protests held last week, were stopped by security forces about a kilometre short of the mission.
Concern over ‘Exaggerated narrative’
Meanwhile, protests continue in different Indian cities over reports of attacks on minorities, particularly Hindus in Bangladesh, while in Bangladesh these are seen as part of an “exaggerated narrative” being built in India.
“Bangladesh expects India to respect its sovereignty particularly when any comment by Bangladesh on things like India’s CAA or NRC laws is frowned upon as “India’s internal affairs”, said Syed Munir Khasru, Head of the Dhaka-Based Institute for Policy, Advocacy, and Governance (IPAG), adding that many in Bangladesh feel “vilified” by Indian media coverage of the attacks on minorities, including the arrest of Hindu monk Chinmoy Das on sedition charges last month.
On Sunday, Mr. Yunus also met with a senior executive of Meta platform that runs social media sites in Dhaka, claiming “a massive disinformation campaign” of which Bangladesh was the “sufferer”, although he didn’t identify any country responsible for it.
Extradition of Hasina
During FOC talks on Monday, Bangladesh could raise the issue of whether India would extradite Ms. Hasina who is facing a number of cases over a police crackdown on student protestors during her tenure, as well as corruption charges. Bangladesh has not so far formally approached India with a request for her extradition, however.
“As due legal process is initiated against Hasina, the Yunus-led government expects India to hand her over in compliance with existing extradition treaties between the two countries and adhering to established international norms in this regard,” Mr. Khasru added.
In particular, Ms. Hasina’s comments, released by her party the Awami League, on a number of issues such as the treatment of minorities in Bangladesh have angered the Yunus government. In an interview to The Hindu last month, Mr. Yunus had called political comments made by the former PM “a problem” for bilateral ties.
Foreign Secretary to meet Yunus; security, minorities and Hasina expected to dominate talks
Talks are routine, say officials; but this is the first such high level visit by an Indian official to Dhaka for talks since the ouster of PM Sheikh Hasina in August.
Amidst growing India-Bangladesh tensions over a number of issues, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri will meet Bangladesh Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus on Monday (December 9, 2024), in the first such visit by a senior Indian official to Dhaka since the new regime took over in August after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India. Mr. Misri will travel to Bangladesh for Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) and is expected to call on Mr. Yunus as well as Foreign Adviser Touhid Hussain, who had met External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in New York on the sidelines of a United Nations General Assembly session in September.
During the day long visit, Mr. Misri will hold talks with his counterpart Foreign Secretary Muhammad Jashim Uddin on bilateral issues, trade and other areas of cooperation, discuss contentious issues such as attacks on minorities and the jailing of a Hindu monk, the security of diplomatic missions after the attack on the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala, as well as the future of Indian projects in Bangladesh.
After the pause on the Adani electricity agreement with a high level enquiry into the tariffs charged, media reports in Dhaka said that the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Authority is moving to cancel another private agreement with Airtel for India to use Bangladesh as transit to provide broadband services to the northeastern states.
The Ministry of External Affairs had announced the visit last week calling it a “structured engagement between India and Bangladesh” that the government “looked forward” to. Officials on both sides have said that the talks are routine, and follow regular consultations on river water sharing, Ganges barrage talks, as well as meetings of Land officials and the opening of a new facility along the land border at Petrapole over the past few months.
‘Important point of bilateral engagement’
“It’s the first visit at senior official levels since the Interim Administration took over and would represent an important point of bilateral engagement at a time of increasing tension and acrimony,” former foreign secretary Harsh Shringla, who had earlier served as High Commissioner to Bangladesh, told The Hindu when asked about the significance of the visit.
However, in remarks indicating that the agenda for talks could be overshadowed by trouble areas, Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Adviser said on Sunday that the India-Bangladesh relationship since the ouster of former PM Sheikh Hasina has changed in “qualitative terms”.
“If we want to solve problems, we have to admit the problem first,” he said, speaking at a seminar on the revival of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). “It is not affecting only Bangladesh but also India. The traders of Kolkata are also being affected,” he said, indicating a slowdown on bilateral trade, movement, visas and connectivity between the two sides in the past four months.
Although Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma had said in a speech last month that both sides had “sustained positive momentum” on trade, traders on both sides have expressed concerns as anger in both countries aimed at each other has grown. On Sunday, three youth organisations of the main Bangladesh Nationalist Party marched towards the Indian High Commission in Dhaka to protest the attack by a mob on the Bangladeshi mission in Agartala in Tripura where the Bangladesh flag was torn. According to sources, the protests, which are among a number of protests held last week, were stopped by security forces about a kilometre short of the mission.
Concern over ‘Exaggerated narrative’
Meanwhile, protests continue in different Indian cities over reports of attacks on minorities, particularly Hindus in Bangladesh, while in Bangladesh these are seen as part of an “exaggerated narrative” being built in India.
“Bangladesh expects India to respect its sovereignty particularly when any comment by Bangladesh on things like India’s CAA or NRC laws is frowned upon as “India’s internal affairs”, said Syed Munir Khasru, Head of the Dhaka-Based Institute for Policy, Advocacy, and Governance (IPAG), adding that many in Bangladesh feel “vilified” by Indian media coverage of the attacks on minorities, including the arrest of Hindu monk Chinmoy Das on sedition charges last month.
On Sunday, Mr. Yunus also met with a senior executive of Meta platform that runs social media sites in Dhaka, claiming “a massive disinformation campaign” of which Bangladesh was the “sufferer”, although he didn’t identify any country responsible for it.
Extradition of Hasina
During FOC talks on Monday, Bangladesh could raise the issue of whether India would extradite Ms. Hasina who is facing a number of cases over a police crackdown on student protestors during her tenure, as well as corruption charges. Bangladesh has not so far formally approached India with a request for her extradition, however.
“As due legal process is initiated against Hasina, the Yunus-led government expects India to hand her over in compliance with existing extradition treaties between the two countries and adhering to established international norms in this regard,” Mr. Khasru added.
In particular, Ms. Hasina’s comments, released by her party the Awami League, on a number of issues such as the treatment of minorities in Bangladesh have angered the Yunus government. In an interview to The Hindu last month, Mr. Yunus had called political comments made by the former PM “a problem” for bilateral ties.
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