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pti-PTI
Bangladesh on Monday once again sought the extradition of former premier Sheikh Hasina from India during High Commissioner Dinesh Trivedi’s first meeting with Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in Dhaka, amid fresh strains in ties between the two countries.
In Dhaka, Indian High Commissioner Dinesh Trivedi met Bangladesh PM Tarique Rahman to discuss bilateral issues, where Bangladesh reiterated its request for the extradition of former premier Sheikh Hasina and suspects in the Osman Hadi murder case.
The meeting also “covered a range of important bilateral issues”, the Bangladesh prime minister’s office said in a statement.
Trivedi conveyed greetings from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India’s intent to work with the Bangladesh government and people in a “positive, constructive and forward-looking manner”, according to a post on X by the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.
The meetings took place amid speculations that Rahman, who has been invited by India to attend the BRICS summit in New Delhi, may skip the event scheduled for September 12-13. Bangladesh so far maintains that a decision in this regard is yet to be made.
Relations between India and Bangladesh have witnessed strain after Hasina virtually addressed the press on August 5 in New Delhi, where she said she is determined to return home in December to put the country on the “right track” by restoring democracy, notwithstanding the risk of facing the threat of imprisonment or a death sentence.
Bangladesh expressed outrage over the media interaction, saying the event had hurt the sentiments of its people and could adversely affect efforts to improve bilateral ties with India.
They described Hasina as an “absconding, convicted genocider”.
However, India’s Ministry of External Affairs on August 7 said that it had no role in the media event concerning Hasina and it does not endorse anything said at the forum about the Bangladesh government.
“Bangladesh hopes that India will expedite the process of extraditing Sheikh Hasina,” said the Bangladesh PMO statement on Monday.
“The meeting covered a range of important bilateral issues between Bangladesh and India. The prime minister stressed the need to create a suitable environment to further strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries,” it said after the meeting, which lasted for around half an hour.
Trivedi’s meeting with Rahman was his first courtesy call with the prime minister, more than six weeks after he joined as India’s High Commissioner in Dhaka with the status of a Union Minister.
Trivedi, a senior leader of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, is the first politician to occupy this diplomatic position in Bangladesh.
Trivedi on Sunday said a meeting between Rahman and Modi could help resolve problems in bilateral ties.
“When two leaders meet, a lot of problems are solved. I have full confidence [about the problem resolution through the meeting],”
During Monday’s meeting, Rahman also took up the matter pertaining to the extradition of the accused in the case of student-leader Osman Hadi’s murder last year.
Hadi, a prominent activist during the student-led movement that ousted Hasina in 2024, was killed in an attack in December 2025 that triggered renewed political tensions in Bangladesh.
The issue assumed significance as three suspects in the case were arrested in India in March and are currently in judicial custody in West Bengal.
India has agreed to extradite the suspects back to Bangladesh following the due process.
Hasina was ousted in August 2024 following violent student-led protests and fled to India.
In November 2025, she was sentenced to death in absentia by a special tribunal in Bangladesh over alleged “crimes against humanity” during the crackdown on protesters.
Dhaka has since been seeking her extradition from India.
The Bangladesh government maintains that Hasina shall have to surrender and face the law if she returns.
The latest diplomatic engagement comes against the backdrop of an uneasy reset in India-Bangladesh ties after Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party came to power in February, following a period of strained relations under the interim government over issues that include Hasina’s extradition, border-related matters and Dhaka’s foreign policy tilt towards China.
Talking to reporters later on Monday, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman, who accompanied the prime minister during his meeting with the Indian envoy, reiterated that the Bangladesh premier urged India to expedite the extradition of Hasina.
“The issue of the return or extradition of convicted Hasina to Bangladesh came up, and we asked him (the envoy) to expedite the extradition process. We hope India will respond positively in this regard,” the foreign minister said.
Prime minister Rahman, the foreign minister said, also sought the extradition of the suspected killers of Osman Hadi.
“We have provided India with all the documents they had requested. This is an extremely sensitive matter for us, and we have asked them to extradite the (Hadi’s) killers to us as soon as possible,” he said.
The foreign minister added that the two sides also stressed the importance of creating an “enabling environment” conducive to taking Bangladesh-India relations forward.
When asked by what date Bangladesh is likely to decide on whether their prime minister would attend the BRICS summit in New Delhi, Khalilur Rahman said the BRICS invitation was not extended to the prime minister personally, but rather “addressed to the chairperson of BIMSTEC.”
BIMSTEC is an international group of seven countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Bangladesh holds the official state chairmanship of the regional group.
Trivedi on Monday also paid a courtesy call on Bangladesh Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed, with the discussions focusing on furthering bilateral relations and areas of common interest, including security cooperation between the two countries, the Indian mission said.
Ahmed had earlier warned that India could not simultaneously pursue friendly relations with Dhaka while giving refuge to Hasina.
