Against the backdrop of growing tensions between India and Bangladesh, External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar will hold talks with Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Md. Touhid Hossain in Muscat next week. This encounter, as confirmed by Bangladeshi foreign officials, will be held on the margins of the 8th Indian Ocean Conference on February 16.
A Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry official stated, “Our Foreign Affairs Adviser will meet the Indian External Affairs Minister on a bilateral basis.” This will be a follow-up of a previous meeting in September last year in New York during the United Nations General Assembly.
The timing of this next swap is interesting, particularly with the senior United Nations officials stating that the extradition of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is a matter for a bilateral discussion between Dhaka and New Delhi. The officials expressed the hope that the two nations would work together and assist each other in the quest for accountability.
The Bangladesh authorities noted that during the meeting, Touhid can speak of the current political scenario in Bangladesh, for instance, the promise of the interim government to conduct free and fair elections by this December. Concerns have also been raised about Sheikh Hasina’s posts on social media when she was in India, and these have created jitters among the interim government.
Besides, speculation was there about the likelihood of a meeting between India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh’s interim government Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus in April during the Bangkok BIMSTEC summit. The two may go for the April 4 summit in Thailand.
The two countries have opened talks on February 17 in New Delhi as border guards from the two nations will meet there. Officials of the United Nations have highlighted that discussions must be undertaken to settle disagreements. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Chief of Asia-Pacific Region Rory Mungoven has stated that accountability for serious human rights violations must be at the top of the agenda.
Sheikh Hasina stepped down and escaped to India on August 5 after violent demonstrations against the government’s contentious quota system ended her 16-year rule. Last year, Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal issued warrants for the arrest of Hasina and a number of former officials for crimes against humanity.
Mungoven reiterated that the extradition process is a bilateral matter by nature. “Cooperation is required,” he stated, and any extradition or trial should be subject to due process and international standards. The meeting between Jaishankar and Touhid in the next few days will be watched with bated breath, particularly on discussions regarding Hasina’s extradition.
