New Delhi: Two days after Bangladesh again pressed for the return of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina following a special Dhaka court’s death sentence against her, Bangladeshi national security adviser Khalilur Rahman met his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on the sidelines of a regional security forum.

The Bangladesh high commission issued a short note stating that the delegation, led by Rahman, met national security adviser Doval and other officials on Wednesday (November 19). The only line describing the talks said they “discussed work of CSC [the Colombo Security Conclave] and key bilateral issues”.

Rahman also extended an invitation to Doval to visit Dhaka.

No further details were provided, and India did not issue any official statement about the meeting.

Rahman arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday evening for the seventh meeting of the CSC, a regional security grouping that Bangladesh joined as a full member in 2023 alongside India, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Mauritius.

This is only the second visit by a Bangladeshi ministerial-level delegation since the collapse of the Awami League government and the formation of the caretaker administration under Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus in August last year. Bangladesh’s energy adviser visited in February.

The latest visit has taken on additional significance after the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal sentenced Sheikh Hasina and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to death for “crimes against humanity” during the July-August students' uprising that culminated in the fall of her government.

Hasina fled Dhaka on August 5, 2024 aboard a Bangladeshi military aircraft and has remained in India since. Kamal is also believed to be in India.

In the wake of the verdict, Bangladesh's foreign ministry issued a Bengali-language press release urging Delhi to “immediately” hand over the convicted individuals under the extradition treaty between the two countries.

India's response, issued on Monday, sidestepped the extradition request. “As a close neighbour, India remains committed to the best interests of the people of Bangladesh, including peace, democracy, inclusion and stability in that country. We will always engage constructively with all stakeholders to that end,” the statement said.

While the Bangladesh high commission noted that “key bilateral issues” were discussed between the two national security advisers, it remains unclear whether Rahman raised the extradition matter with Doval.

In Dhaka, Bangladesh's foreign affairs adviser Mohammed Touhid Hossain was guarded when asked if Rahman would bring up the issue. “I don't want to interfere with the agenda that he has,” he said, adding that while Rahman could raise it if necessary, formal requests would proceed through official diplomatic channels.

Bangladesh has not yet formally renewed its extradition request following the court verdict. It had initially made the request in December 2024, to which India has not responded.

Rahman's visit, scheduled well before the court verdict, has faced domestic political pressure in Bangladesh, with calls for the caretaker government to push India on Hasina's return.

At a Monday night rally in Dhaka organised by the student-led National Citizen Party (NCP), a senior leader addressed Rahman's upcoming trip. “We call on the Indian government – just as you took Sheikh Hasina away, now return her to Bangladesh,” he said.

Another NCP leader and former adviser Nahid Islam stated: “We hope she will be brought back with him.”

Rumeen Farhana, a leader from Bangladesh's largest mainstream political party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, questioned the timing of the visit on a Bangladeshi television channel. “Why is he in India right now? Is he thinking that India will send Hasina back with him on a flight?”

Relations between New Delhi and Dhaka have been strained since the fall of the Hasina government. India has claimed that large numbers of minorities, particularly Hindus, had been targeted in the violence after the fall of the government. Dhaka has disputed these figures, asserting that most incidents were politically motivated rather than communal.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Yunus had met on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC summit in Thailand earlier this year. Indian external affairs minister S. Jaishankar and foreign secretary Vikram Misri had travelled to Dhaka earlier this year.

Bangladesh has also objected to Indian security agencies allegedly pushing individuals across the border on the grounds that they were undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants.

Rahman will join the meeting of the national security advisers of the CSC on Thursday, the first such gathering in two years. Along with the five full member states, Seychelles is attending as an observer and Malaysia has been invited as a guest.

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