Bangladesh says it wants to reset ties with India:Minister calls for direct dialogue between the two nations, describes Hasina-era relations as uncomfortable

Bangladesh said on Sunday that it wants to reset its relationship with India – that is, start afresh in ties between the two countries. Bangladesh’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Humayun Kabir, said the new relationship between the two countries should be built on mutual interests. He described India-Bangladesh relations during Sheikh Hasina’s tenure as prime minister as strained. Kabir said Dhaka wants to move towards a new relationship with New Delhi, and that there should be direct talks between the two countries for this. The talks should take place at the bilateral level, not through a multilateral forum. ‘We need to stop focusing too much on India’ Kabir said that Bangladesh will have to get out of the mindset of paying too much attention to relations with India. He said relations with India should be viewed in a balanced manner and should focus on mutual interests. The relationship with New Delhi is also part of Bangladesh’s relations with other countries. PM Rahman did not attend the BRICS summit Bangladesh’s statement came after the conclusion of the BRICS summit in India. Bangladesh had stated that Prime Minister Tariq Rahman would not attend the summit because he had not been invited in his personal capacity. According to Dhaka, he was invited as the chair of BIMSTEC, a regional organisation of seven countries in South and Southeast Asia bordering the Bay of Bengal that work together for mutual cooperation and development. Rahman’s India tour was also postponed in August India had invited PM Tariq for a separate bilateral meeting between the two countries before the BRICS summit. He was scheduled to visit India on August 22, but the event was postponed before the visit. At that time, Bangladesh raised the issue of the extradition of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with India, an issue that has already been a source of tension between the two countries. On this, Bangladesh’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Humayun Kabir had said at that time that, Bilateral visits will take place when the environment is right. There is no need to rush. India-Bangladesh tensions escalate after Hasina’s press conference In fact, on August 5th, Sheikh Hasina held a virtual press conference in Delhi. In the conference, she answered questions from journalists on the second anniversary of the Awami League government’s ouster and also spoke on Bangladeshi politics. The Bangladesh government strongly objected to this, arguing that Hasina’s public political statements while in India could harm efforts to normalize relations between the two countries. Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry stated that India had been warned about this in advance, but India still allowed her to hold the press conference. Significantly, India had refused to block Sheikh Hasina’s press conference. India had said that its event was being organised by a private media organisation and that the government had nothing to do with it. ​