Dhaka, April 8: Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Mohammad Touhid Hossain on Tuesday confirmed that interim Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus raised the issue of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s extradition during his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bangkok last week.
“We raised the issue but nothing was finalised,” Hossain told reporters at the Foreign Ministry, adding he would not comment further when asked if the aim was to bring Hasina back to face trial.
The meeting between Modi and Yunus took place Friday on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC summit in Thailand. A day later, Yunus’s press secretary Shafiqul Alam claimed in a Facebook post that the response from India was “not negative.”
While Dhaka has not released official minutes of the meeting, Hossain acknowledged that future progress in bilateral ties would require reciprocal action. “We need to move forward together,” he noted.
India’s External Affairs Secretary Vikram Misri, briefing reporters after the talks, said Modi had called on all sides to “refrain from rhetoric that could damage the atmosphere of bilateral engagement.”
However, by Saturday, Indian officials familiar with the exchange described Dhaka’s portrayal of the meeting as “mischievous and politically motivated,” particularly regarding reported discussions on attacks against minorities and the request for Hasina’s extradition.
