Foreign minister at briefing: Dhaka seeks enabling environment to advance Bangladesh–India ties

Bangladesh has urged India to help create a conducive environment for advancing relations between the two neighbouring countries. The message was conveyed during Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi’s first courtesy meeting with Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Monday morning.

Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman disclosed the matter to journalists at a briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the afternoon, following the meeting at the prime minister’s secretariat.

He said emphasis had been placed on creating the kind of “enabling environment” necessary to take bilateral relations forward.

The foreign minister said Bangladesh had also urged New Delhi to expedite the extradition of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who has been sentenced to death for crimes against humanity, and is currently in India.

Dhaka also requested the extradition of those suspected of murdering Inqilab Moncho convenor Shaheed Sharif Osman Bin Hadi, he added.

Referring to reports that Hadi’s suspected killers had been apprehended in India, Khalilur Rahman said, “We have provided them with all the documents they requested. This is an extremely sensitive issue for us [the Hadi case]. We have asked them to extradite the killers to us as soon as possible.”

Asked whether the issues of border killings and push-ins had been discussed during the meeting, the foreign minister said they had, albeit briefly.

“These are not matters for discussion at the prime ministerial level,” he said, adding that the issues had been discussed during his meeting with the Indian high commissioner yesterday, Sunday.

Asked whether Bangladesh’s earlier expression of displeasure to India over the events of 5 August had come up in Monday’s discussion, Khalilur Rahman said, “We have clearly stated our position regarding 5 August, and the Indian authorities have taken it seriously. They told me this yesterday, and they told the prime minister the same thing today.”

Asked whether India had expressed regret over allowing Sheikh Hasina to address a press conference in New Delhi on 5 August, the second anniversary of the July uprising, the foreign minister said the matter should not be framed simply in terms of an apology.

“You have to understand clearly what happened,” he said. “A state has three branches—the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. Convicted Hasina belongs to the jurisdiction of the judiciary. A court in Bangladesh tried her and sentenced her. What happens in the case of a convicted person? They are taken into custody, and if they have anything to say in their defence, they say it before the court.”

Elaborating on the matter, Khalilur Rahman said, “What Hasina did on 5 August was to spread hatred against Bangladesh’s judiciary—one of the three branches of the state—and the Indian government allowed her to do so.”

He added, “As I said yesterday, we want every country to respect the entire constitutional structure of our state. We hope the Indian government will understand and appreciate this, and I believe they have understood the matter. We hope they will not do anything further that undermines any branch of our state. Based on my discussions with them, I am somewhat reassured, and I hope there will be no recurrence of such an incident.”

Asked whether the Bangladesh government had accepted an invitation for Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to visit New Delhi after India extended invitations to him on two occasions, the foreign minister said, “First of all, I am not a fortune-teller. Secondly, the prime minister was not invited to BRICS. He was invited as the chair of BIMSTEC. You should try to understand that distinction.”

He further said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had previously sent a letter to Bangladesh’s prime minister, which was handed over on the day the new government was formed. “There is an invitation,” he said.

Asked in a follow-up question whether the invitation to visit Delhi had been discussed when the Indian high commissioner met the prime minister on Monday, Khalilur Rahman said, “We have not yet taken any decision on this.”