Bangladesh said on Sunday that Prime Minister Tarique Rahman would not visit India until New Delhi extradited former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, AFP reported.

The neighbouring countries have had strained relations since massive student-led protests erupted in Bangladesh in July 2024 against a controversial quota scheme for government jobs and later snowballed into a broader agitation against Hasina’s government. Her government was eventually brought down, forcing her to flee to India.

Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal in November sentenced Hasina to death for crimes against humanity in connection with the deadly crackdown on protesters in 2024. In February, a court sentenced her to 10 years’ imprisonment in two corruption cases relating to alleged irregularities in the allocation of land in a government housing project in Dhaka.

Dhaka has repeatedly demanded that Hasina be extradited. It has also expressed concerns about the ousted leader being allowed by the Indian authorities to address her supporters from Delhi.

New Delhi has previously said that it was for Hasina to decide whether she wants to return to Bangladesh.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Bangladesh’s foreign ministry official AKM Shahidul Karim played down media speculation about a possible trip by Rahman to India next week.

“We are of the view that a propitious environment needs to be created for the visit,” AFP quoted him as saying. “To this end, we have urged the Indian authorities to expedite their efforts to extradite Sheikh Hasina and other fugitives.”

Rahman took office in February and has since visited Malaysia and China, departing from the tradition of Bangladeshi leaders heading to India for their first overseas trip.

Officials from Bangladesh and India have been in contact in recent weeks about the possibility of a visit by Rahman, Karim said. “But the process has been vitiated by Sheikh Hasina’s open media interactions, despite her being a convict in crimes against humanity,” the news agency quoted him as saying.

He was referring to Hasina’s remarks on August 5 during an audio-only virtual press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club. During the event, she said that she was determined to return home in December to put the country on the “right track”.

The interaction was Hasina’s first public media appearance since she fled to Delhi in August 2024 amid widespread protests against her government.

Hasina said that she would return to Bangladesh to restore democracy despite the risk of imprisonment or even a death sentence.

She also demanded that the ban on her party, the Awami League, be lifted and political prisoners be released. The former prime minister urged the international community to support the people of Bangladesh in their struggle for democracy and justice.

On August 7, the Ministry of External Affairs said that the Indian government does not endorse remarks made at a press conference held by Hasina in Delhi, particularly those relating to Dhaka.

The ministry also said that New Delhi had no role to play in the event, reiterating that it was organised by a private media entity.

After Hasina’s event, Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had said that it was “outraged” by former prime minister being allowed to speak to the media in Delhi, and said such events were detrimental to relations with India.

Dhaka said that it “deeply regrets” that the programme had been allowed despite having conveyed its concerns to New Delhi about the “likely ramifications of this event on the reset” of bilateral relations.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

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