According to the Bangladeshi government’s press office, India’s prime minister and the leader of the country’s interim administration met Friday on the fringes of a regional summit in Bangkok. This was the first time the two have met since Bangladeshi premier Sheikh Hasina was overthrown last year.
Hasina’s strong ties with her neighbors in South Asia have soured since she left the nation in August during widespread student-led demonstrations and sought safety in India.
On the sidelines of the BIMSTEC summit in Bangkok, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, who succeeded Hasina as chief adviser of a temporary administration in Dhaka, according to the press office.
Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan are also members of BIMSTEC, or the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation.
Part of the reason for the shift in public sentiment in Bangladesh was India’s decision to provide Hasina asylum. Dhaka has asked that she be sent home for trial, but New Delhi has not replied.
India has consistently called on Bangladesh to defend its Hindu minority, claiming that since Yunus seized power, the Muslim-majority nation has been targeting them. According to Dhaka, the violence is not a communal problem and has been overstated.
“It would be hoped that this meeting would begin the process of rebuilding some engagement,” stated Harsh Pant, head of international policy at the Indian think tank Observer Research Foundation.
“I believe that right now, the main goal should be to simply stabilize the relationship.”
The two countries share a 4,000-kilometer (2,500-mile) border and have long-standing cultural and commercial links.
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