The Crime Desk: Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Mishri has arrived in Dhaka amid tensions between Bangladesh and India. He arrived in Dhaka on a special flight of the Indian Air Force on Monday (December 9) morning. He will hold a meeting with Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Md. Jasim Uddin on several issues related to the interests of the two countries.
This will be the first meeting between high-level officials of Bangladesh and India after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government.
According to the itinerary, Vikram Mishri will hold a private meeting with Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Md. Jasim Uddin before the formal talks. After participating in the secretary-level meeting, he will join lunch. After that, he will pay a courtesy call on Foreign Affairs Advisor Md. Towhid Hossain and Principal Advisor Dr. Muhammad Yunus.
Vikram Mishri is scheduled to return to Delhi tonight.
A diplomatic source in Dhaka said that although the meeting will discuss the overall issues, Bangladesh will give maximum importance to three issues. They are stopping Sheikh Hasina’s political activities in India, preventing anti-Bangladesh propaganda by the Indian media, and opening the visa bottleneck.
On the other hand, Delhi may request to ensure the interests of minorities and their security in addition to normalizing relations.
At a seminar in Dhaka on Sunday, Foreign Affairs Advisor Md. Towhid Hossain said, “We have to admit that there has definitely been a qualitative change in relations before and after August 5. We have to accept this and try to take our relations forward. I hope they will have fruitful discussions.”
Indian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal spoke about the meeting at the weekly briefing in Delhi last Friday. He said that the Indian foreign secretary will visit Dhaka to attend the foreign secretary-level meeting. There, the foreign secretaries of the two countries will talk about various issues related to mutual interests.
Dhaka officials say that the tension that has been going on between the two countries since August 5 is unprecedented. The attack on the Agartala mission and protests in front of the Bangladesh missions in Kolkata and Mumbai on charges of minority oppression have added a new dimension to this. However, despite various acrimonious events, Bangladesh considers the meeting to be positive.
Earlier, due to various tensions in Dhaka-Delhi relations, the BGB-BSF Director General level meeting was postponed. The meeting was scheduled to be held in Delhi from November 18-20. However, in October and November, three meetings were held at the official level between officials of the two countries on water sharing, land borders, and land ports. In October, members of the Joint River Commission held a technical meeting on the flow of the Ganges in Dhaka. In November, the Land Border Security Committee met in Kolkata, and in the same month, officials of the Joint Working Group on Land Ports met in Delhi.
