Dhaka wants 'conducive environment' for PM’s India visit

Bangladesh on Sunday urged India to expedite the extradition of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and other fugitives and hand over the accused killers of Inqilab Mancha leader Shaheed Sharif Osman Hadi under the bilateral extradition treaty.

AKM Shahidul Karim, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,  said Bangladesh wants India to create a “conducive environment” for a possible visit by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.

“We have made our position clear on this matter. We are of the view that an appropriate environment needs to be created for this visit,” the MoFA spokesperson said during a media briefing at the ministry.

Bangladesh and India have been in touch for several weeks over the possibility of a bilateral visit by PM Tarique Rahman to India.

Bangladesh has also requested India to hand over the accused killers of Shaheed Sharif Osman Hadi, spokesperson of Inqilab Mancha, in compliance with the extradition treaty, the spokesperson added.

“To this end, we have requested the Indian authorities to expeditiously act on our request to extradite Sheikh Hasina and other fugitive criminals,” he added.

“We reiterated that we will continue to pursue our ‘Bangladesh First’ policy to promote bilateral relations with other countries, including our neighbours, on the basis of sovereignty, equality, national dignity, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, and mutual benefit,” he added. Earlier, diplomatic sources said the prime minister may visit India between August 20 and 25, with Dhaka and New Delhi discussing the specific dates within the timeframe.

The development follows Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi's one-to-one meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 11, a day after he met Tarique Rahman in Dhaka.

However, the spokesperson said the process had been "vitiated" by an open press interaction in New Delhi on August 5 by Sheikh Hasina, who has been convicted by the International Crimes Tribunal for committing crimes against humanity.

"We have made our position clear on this matter," he said.

"We are awaiting their response," said the spokesperson.

Bangladesh reiterated that it would continue to pursue its "Bangladesh First" policy to promote friendly bilateral relations with other countries, including its neighbours, on the basis of sovereign equality, national dignity, non-interference in each other's internal affairs and mutual benefit.