New Delhi: Amid strained ties between India and Bangladesh, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri is set to visit Dhaka next week, marking the first bilateral visit in four months since the ousting of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Confirming the trip, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that Misri would visit Bangladesh on December 9.
“He will meet his counterpart, and several other meetings are scheduled during the visit,” Jaiswal said at the weekly briefing on Friday (December 6).
“Foreign Office Consultations led by the Foreign Secretary represent a structured engagement between India and Bangladesh. We look forward to this meeting,” he added in response to a question.
Bangladeshi media has reported that Dhaka is likely to formally request the extradition of Hasina, who fled to India on August 5 as large crowds stormed government buildings.
Relations between the two neighbours have been tense since, with India repeatedly raising concerns over attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh. The interim government, led by Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus, has pledged to protect minorities but has also accused India and its media of exaggerating the incidents to destabilise Bangladesh.
Anti-India protests have erupted across Bangladesh in recent months, fuelled by perceptions that New Delhi backed the Hasina government.
Tensions escalated further recently when India objected to the arrest of Hindu monk Chinmoy Das, accused of inciting a crowd to remove the national flag during a rally for minority rights in Chattogram. The situation worsened after an assistant prosecutor was stabbed to death at the court complex where Das’s bail had been denied, sparking widespread outrage.
Meanwhile, Foreign adviser Touhid Hossain, while announcing the foreign secretary-level talks, said that while Dhaka wanted a good relationship with India, “both sides need to want that and should work for it”.
The MEA spokesperson reiterated India’s stance that the legal process underway in Bangladesh against Das should be “executed in a fair, just and transparent manner, ensuring full respect for the legal rights of concerned individuals”.
