City Desk :
After a period of growing tensions in a changed political scenario since August 5, Bangladesh and India are increasingly demonstrating their willingness to recognise the value of fostering stability, mutual trust, and cooperation in addressing shared challenges for greater prosperity on both sides.
The winds of positive change in Dhaka-Delhi relations indicate a promising turn for the two South Asian neighbours though many feared that the relations would only deteriorate further with a growing anti-India sentiment, reports UNB.
Recent diplomatic exchanges including the foreign secretary-level meeting have shown a commitment to sewing ties and addressing areas of discord.
On January 1, Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain made it clear that maintaining good relationships with three big countries – India, China and the United States- is among the priorities in 2025. He stressed that Dhaka’s ties with Delhi will advance beyond a single issue.
There are questions around on how the Bangladesh-India relations will navigate this year if Dhaka’s request for returning former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina remains unaddressed. Adviser Hossain, however, addressed such a question saying this is one of the issues and the two countries have many bilateral issues.
“I think both will continue simultaneously. We have many issues of mutual interest. We will advance with all these issues side by side,” said the adviser.
Bangladesh is expecting a reply from India regarding its request for Hasina’s extradition and was supposed to send a reminder after a certain period if no reply is received from New Delhi. India has refrained from commenting further on Hasina’s extradition request.
“You know, a week back, I had confirmed that we have received a communication from the Bangladesh authorities in respect of former PM Sheikh Hasina. Further than that, I have nothing to add at this point in time,” said Randhir Jaiswal, official spokesperson at the Ministry of External Affairs on January 3.
Foreign Secretary of India Vikram Misri, during his official visit to Bangladesh on December 9, reiterated India’s willingness to build a “positive and constructive” relationship with Bangladesh based on mutual trust, respect and mutual sensitivity to each other’s concerns and interests.
He also emphasized that people are the main stakeholders in Bangladesh-India relations and noted that India’s development cooperation and multifaceted engagements with Bangladesh including in areas of trade, connectivity and other capacity building areas are all geared towards the benefit of the people of Bangladesh.
