Bangladesh recalls envoy to India, 4 others as bilateral ties with New Delhi remain tense

The 4 other envoys called back include those to Australia, Belgium, Portugal and the UN. The country’s interim govt had earlier asked its UK envoy to return immediately.

Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Mustafizur Rahman | ANI

New Delhi: The Bangladeshi interim government has recalled five ambassadors, including its High Commissioner to India Mustafizur Rahman, according to a notification made available Wednesday.

Others called back by the government led by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus were envoys to Australia, Belgium, Portugal and the permanent representative to the United Nations. They have been asked to return immediately to Dhaka in what looks like a major diplomatic reshuffle.

Prior to this, the interim government had also asked Bangladesh’s UK envoy to return to the country.

Rahman’s recall comes at a time when ties between India and Bangladesh have hit a rough patch after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in August. Ties during her 15 years were strong and, for the most part, stable, but now face several challenges.

Rahman, a career diplomat, was previously Bangladesh’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, ambassador to Switzerland and also its high commissioner to Singapore. He was appointed India envoy in November 2022, and was to stay for three years.

Muhammad Yunus, the founder of microfinance institution Grameen Bank, returned from France to take over as chief adviser of the interim government after Hasina fled the country.

While Yunus has publicly favoured good ties with India, he also expects India to extradite Hasina to face trial in Bangladesh. He said in September that Hasina should remain “quiet” while in India, until Dhaka asked for her return.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Yunus are yet to hold a bilateral meeting. There were efforts for one during Modi’s recent visit to the US, but Modi completed his work and returned to New Delhi as Yunus was arriving to attend the United Nations Summit of the Future.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, however, met his Bangladeshi counterpart Md. Touhid Hossain on 23 September on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Meanwhile, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma met Hossain this Tuesday to promote bilateral ties “towards realising shared aspirations of the people of both the countries”, an X post said

(Edited by Tikli Basu)