Delhi-Dhaka Reconnect: High Com. Trivedi Meets PM Rahman, Talks Positive

In less than a week since Bangladesh’s ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s controversial press meet in Delhi, India’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi had his first meeting with Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in Dhaka. They were together for nearly an hour at the Bangladesh Secretariat and after talks wound up, Trivedi is reported to have returned to Delhi to brief the top leadership here.

A readout issued by the Indian High Commission after the meeting said: “High Commissioner conveyed greetings from Hon’ble Prime Minister of India and the intent to work together with the Government and the people of Bangladesh in a positive, constructive and forward-looking manner. They exchanged views on matters of mutual interest and discussed avenues for further strengthening bilateral relations between India and Bangladesh with a people-centric approach.”

The primary objective of Trivedi’s meeting with Rahman on Monday was to ensure that he undertakes his maiden visit to Delhi. India has extended two invitations to Rahman, one is a state visit as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh and the other as Chairman of BIMSTEC to attend the BRICS Summit on September 12-13.

But the Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman claimed that was not the case.

“First of all, I am not an astrologer. So, I cannot predict on which exact day it (the visit) will happen,” he said at a press briefing, “Secondly, the BIMSTEC invitation was not extended to the prime minister personally. It was addressed to the chairperson of BIMSTEC.”

He said the Bangladesh side had raised the issue of Sheikh Hasina‘s extradition at the meeting with Trivedi. He said they were “somewhat reassured” that Hasina will not be given a public platform to speak. Dhaka has also asked New Delhi to return the alleged killers of prominent student leader Sharif Osman Hadi of Inquilab Moncho.

Another high profile visitor from India was in Dhaka. According to official sources Parag Jain, the chief of India’s external intelligence agency RAW, called on Brig Gen AKM Shamsul Islam (Retd), the prime minister’s defence affairs adviser. Jain was in Dhaka at the invitation of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) – the principal military intelligence agency of Bangladesh.

This was Jain’s maiden visit to Dhaka since the BNP came to power.