Bangladesh Reaction On India: Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Advisor Tauheed Hossain on Wednesday said the extradition of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is one of the many issues with India while stronger bilateral relations with the US, India and China are the priorities of the interim government.
Hasina (77) has been living in India since August 5, when she left the country following massive student-led protests. His 16 year old government had fallen due to the students’ movement. The Bangladesh-based International Criminal Tribunal (ICT) has issued arrest warrants against Hasina and several former cabinet ministers, advisers and military and civilian officials for “crimes against humanity and genocide”.
Responding to a question, Hussain said, “This (Hasina’s extradition) is an issue, but there are other issues of our interest also.” We will work together on those also.” He said Dhaka’s efforts to bring back Hasina from Delhi and improve relations with India will proceed in parallel. He said, “I believe that both the works will move forward together.”
Hussain, a former diplomat who is the de facto foreign minister in the interim government of key adviser Mohammad Yunus, said tackling the Rohingya crisis as well as maintaining strong bilateral ties with the US, India and China will be key priorities for Bangladesh in 2025.
“Our priorities are to resolve the Rohingya crisis, maintain good relations with those three countries, and advance our economic and diplomatic efforts while ensuring stability,” he said.
Regarding relations with America, India and China, when Hussain was asked whether any one country has been given any special priority over the other, he said that none of these countries is at the bottom of the priority list.
He said, “We give equal priority to maintaining relations with these three countries, because our various interests are deeply linked.” He said that these countries also have their own interests in maintaining good relations with Bangladesh. Are.
The Foreign Affairs Advisor expressed hope that by the end of this year, Dhaka’s relations with these global powers will become stronger. The interim government recently sent a diplomatic communication to New Delhi demanding Hasina’s extradition from India. Foreign Ministry officials here said that they are waiting for a response from India. He said that further steps will be taken after receiving the reply. Hussain said he was planning to visit Beijing on January 20 for bilateral discussions on various issues.
“I will talk on common issues,” he said, although he did not elaborate on specific topics to be discussed during the Beijing visit. Asked whether Dhaka considers the rapid development in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, bordering Bangladesh, as a challenge, Hussain said Dhaka accepts this newly emerged reality.
He said, “The situation in Rakhine, Myanmar is extremely challenging because the ground reality there has changed.”
