Bangladesh NSA Khalilur Rahman to visit India next week amid frosty relations

BAngladesh’s subject certificate consultant Khalilur Rahman, a come together auxiliary of interim government head Muhammad Yunus, will visit India next week to participate in a regional security conclave, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.Rahman, who is widely seen as one of the most influential players in the caretaker administration, will be only the second Bangladeshi leader to visit New Delhi since the fall of former premier Sheikh Hasina’s regime in August 2024.He is set to arrive in New Delhi on November 19 to participate in a meeting of Colombo Security Conclave (CSC) the following day at the invitation of National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, the people said on condition of anonymity. A formal announcement regarding Rahman’s visit or the conclave has not yet been made.A bilateral meeting between Rahman and Doval on the margins of the security conclave is not being ruled out. Such an engagement will be an opportunity for the two sides to take stock of bilateral ties, which have been in free fall since the interim government led by Yunus assumed office days after Hasina fled to India following weeks of protests led by student groups.Several interviews given by Hasina to Indian media outlets over the past week have led to fresh strains, with Bangladesh’s foreign ministry summoning a senior Indian diplomat in Dhaka to demand that her access to journalists be discontinued.In February, Bangladesh’s de facto energy minister Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan became the first member of the interim government to visit India to participate in the India Energy Week. There have also been several meetings of officials as part of long-standing bilateral mechanisms dealing with issues such as border management and the sharing of river waters.Doval had earlier played an important role in dealing with the former government of Hasina, while Rahman has emerged as Bangladesh’s key negotiator for trade and other issues with the US.The Colombo Security Conclave’s meeting is expected to bring together NSAs and senior security officials of India, Bangladesh, the Maldives, Mauritius, and Sri Lanka. The grouping focuses on cooperation to tackle a range of security challenges, including terrorism, drug trafficking, and organised crime, in the Indian Ocean region.Seychelles has observer status with the grouping, while Bangladesh became a full member in 2024.There have been limited contacts between the top leadership of India and Bangladesh since the interim government was installed in Dhaka. The Indian side has frequently criticised the caretaker setup’s failure to tackle the oppression of Bangladesh’s minorities, while the interim government has demanded Hasina’s extradition.The frosty nature of bilateral relations didn’t improve after a meeting between Yunus and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the margins of the Bimstec Summit in Bangkok in April. At a time when the caretaker government has banned the activities of Hasina’s Awami League, India has called for free, fair, credible, and inclusive elections to facilitate a smooth and peaceful democratic transition.Yunus has said Bangladesh will go to the polls in February 2026, though dates are yet to be announced.