Is the ground shifting on the Hasina ‘return or extradition’ issue?

Has the ice started to thaw in the currently frozen India-Bangladesh relations? There are indications that tentative steps towards improvement are being taken, but the sum total of those steps do not yet represent a breakthrough.

The first meeting between Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and Dinesh Trivedi, the Indian high commissioner in Dhaka, although officially only a courtesy call, did contain enough substance for both sides to brief the media afterwards.

Trivedi, the experienced politician that he is, heaped praise on his host and spoke eloquently about solving issues and moving ahead.

The Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman did not rule out the possibility of Tarique attending next month’s BRICS summit in New Delhi, in his capacity as the chairman of the regional grouping, BIMSTEC. This will surely raise speculation that the visit may even go ahead, accompanied by a storm of protest from hardliners.

The foreign minister, as expected, informed the media that India had been asked to expedite the extradition of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to face trial in Bangladesh.

Hasina has already announced that she’d return voluntarily in December to face the courts; but Dhaka is still keen to see her “extradited”.