Is Dhaka Signalling Continuity In Ties With India Amid Hasina Extradition Issue?
Amid Bangladesh’s political transition, Dhaka signals continuity in India ties, stressing unresolved issues like the Hasina extradition will not hinder broader strategic cooperation.
Published : November 30, 2025 at 8:05 PM IST
New Delhi: Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Adviser Mohammad Touhid Hossain's assertion on Sunday that ties with India will not be constrained by "a couple of unresolved issues", including the sensitive matter of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s extradition, seemingly signals Dhaka's intention to maintain strategic continuity despite domestic flux.
His remarks underscore that the political transition in Bangladesh has not altered the fundamentals of a relationship that remains critical for both nations' regional and security interests.
"Whether it is Teesta water or border killings – these will remain alongside the matter of returning Sheikh Hasina. One is not dependent on the other," the Dhaka Tribune quoted Hossain as saying during a Diplomatic Correspondents Association of Bangladesh (DCAB)-organised talk titled 'Bangladesh's Foreign Policy: Relevant Role in a Changing World'. “Our interests will remain, and our efforts to secure them will continue. We want them to be returned so that the sentence can be executed. But I don’t think everything else will be stuck because of this.”
At the same time, he said that frustration over Teesta water sharing and border killings was widespread.
"The previous government that had a warm relationship with India for 15 years – were they able to resolve even one of these two issues?" he asked. "This outward warmth is not the real matter. The real matter is whether our interests were being secured; clearly, they were not. So, I do not want to say there were 'good relations' with India. There was a kind of relationship – it was deep for the government."
Sheikh Hasina’s ouster in August last year following a mass uprising against what was dubbed as her authoritarian rule triggered major recalibrations in Bangladesh’s domestic and foreign policy orientations. The transition raised questions about whether the new administration – particularly its interim government and technocratic advisers – would maintain the historically close relationship shared with India during Hasina’s tenure.
Hossain’s comments also come at a time when after Dhaka sought the extradition from India of Hasina after the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh sentenced her to death for crimes against humanity earlier this month. India has said that the request is being examined as part of ongoing judicial and internal legal processes.
India made its position clear after Hossain had said that Dhaka expected New Delhi to respond to this fresh request for extradition of Hasina. At the same time, he added that he did not expect New Delhi to respond to Dhaka’s request within a week.
"I do not expect that they will answer within a week of Dhaka’s request, but we expect we will get an answer," Bangladesh media quoted Hossain as telling reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on November 26 when asked about the status of the extradition request.
Hossain’s comments on Sunday also come at a time when the main opposition in the country Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) leader Khaleda Zia has been hospitalised in Dhaka in a critical health condition. This comes at a time when the interim government in Bangladesh led by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus has announced that parliamentary elections will be held in the country will be held in February next year.
Meanwhile, following Hasina’s ouster, Bangladesh has been improving diplomatic ties with Pakistan. In fact, Bangladesh’s High Commissioner in Islamabad Iqbal Hussain Khan announced earlier this week that direct flights between Pakistan and Bangladesh will resume from December onwards.
Here, it also needs to be mentioned that the ouster of Hasina also saw the rise of extremist Islamist elements in Bangladesh’s political landscape, leading to large-scale violence against religious minorities, particularly Hindus. India has been continuously voicing its concerns over these developments.
Now, with Hossain’s latest comments on Sunday, Bangladesh, it seems, is signalling that the bilateral relationship with India is too important to be derailed by political sensitivities surrounding the issue of Hasina’s extradition. This is crucial given that Hasina’s long tenure had entrenched deep strategic, economic and security cooperation.
For nearly 15 years, Hasina’s administrations were India’s closest political partners in South Asia. She delivered on counterterrorism cooperation, connectivity projects, energy trade, security coordination against insurgent groups in the Northeast, and stable border management. India, therefore, owes much of its stable eastern frontier and subregional connectivity architecture to Hasina’s policies.
However, Saifur Rahman Tapan, a Dhaka-based journalist, said that one should not read too much into Hossain’s statement as he is a career diplomat.
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