Sheikh Hasina’s Extradition Broached When Yunus, Modi Met: Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Adviser

Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Adviser Mohammad Touhid Hossain on Tuesday said that interim government chief Muhammad Yunus had raised the issue of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s extradition from India during a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bangkok recently.

“We raised the issue but nothing was finalised,” he told reporters at the Foreign Ministry declining to elaborate further when asked if Yunus discussed Hasina’s extradition to make her stand trial.

Hossain, however, said that progress in Dhaka-Delhi relations required efforts from both sides as “we need to move forward together”.

Chief Adviser Yunus held a meeting with Modi on Friday on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC summit in Thailand.

Following their talks, External Affairs Secretary Vikram Misri told reporters that PM Modi had urged all parties to refrain from rhetoric that could damage the atmosphere of bilateral engagement.

A day after the meeting, Yunus’s press secretary Shafiqul Alam wrote on his Facebook account that Bangladesh’s interim government chief raised Hasina’s extradition issue and claimed that the response was “not negative”.

After the Modi-Yunus meeting, Misri said the Indian premier in that meeting underlined New Delhi’s concerns over the safety of minorities, including Hindus, and conveyed the expectation that the Bangladeshi government would ensure their security, including by thoroughly investigating cases of atrocities against them.