Diplomatic Correspondent

Unprecedented strain on bilateral relations notwithstanding, Indian Foreign secretary Vikram Misri is expected to visit Bangladesh for a meeting with his Bangladesh counterpart, Hindustan Times reported on Wednesday.

The visit by Misri, if materialized, would be the first trip to Dhaka by a senior Indian official since the interim government of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus came to power in August.

An official announcement about the visit is yet to be made by either New Delhi or Dhaka.

“As things stand, the Foreign Secretary is slated to visit Bangladesh on December 10. But with a week still to go for the visit and the current state of relations, we will have to see how things pan out,” the newspaper said, quoting an unnamed person familiar with the matter.

The last foreign office consultations between India and Bangladesh had taken place in New Delhi in November 2023.

If the Indian Foreign Secretary’s visit goes ahead, it could be a sign that New Delhi and Dhaka may be ready to put the past behind in order to look ahead.

The Foreign Secretary-level meeting was agreed on during a meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Touhid Hossain on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 23 in what was the first high-level interaction between the two sides since former premier Sheikh Hasina stepped down in the face of widespread protests and the interim administration led by Yunus came to power in August.

Resumption of India-funded development projects in Bangladesh, easing of the visa regime and trade and investment are expected to figure in the proposed foreign office consultations, Hindustan Times said.

The visit by Misri is being viewed as an opportunity to clear the air between the two sides and initiate steps to restore a semblance of normalcy to bilateral ties.

India-Bangladesh relations are under stress with protests in several Indian states over alleged persecution of the Hindu minority and the arrest of Bangladeshi monk Chinmoy Krishna Das on the charge of sedition.

Bangladesh’s foreign ministry summoned Indian high commissioner to India Pranay Verma on Tuesday to protest the security breach at the country’s consulate in Agartala by a large group of protesters on Monday.

The disquiet in Dhaka over Hasina’s presence in India, where she sought shelter after fleeing Bangladesh, is another sore point in ties between the two countries. Yunus and other leaders of the interim government have pitched for Hasina’s extradition from India.