“SPIRIT OF PRAGMATISM”
Vikram Misri, the secretary of India’s foreign ministry, told reporters that Modi “reiterated India’s support for a democratic, stable, peaceful, progressive and inclusive Bangladesh”.
Modi said he wanted a “positive and constructive relation with Bangladesh based on a spirit of pragmatism”, Misri added, repeating New Delhi’s concerns about alleged “atrocities” against minorities in Bangladesh.
Yunus, according to Alam, also raised with Modi Dhaka’s long-running complaint about what it says are Hasina’s incendiary remarks from exile.
Hasina, who remains in India, has defied extradition requests from Bangladesh to face charges including mass murder.
Dhaka has requested that India allow Hasina’s extradition to face charges of crimes against humanity for the killing of hundreds of protesters during the unrest that toppled her government.
Misri said Modi and Yunus had discussed the extradition order but there was “nothing more to add” at present.
Yunus also raised concerns about border violence along the porous frontier with India, as well as issues of the shared river waters that flow from India as the Ganges and the Brahmaputra wind towards the sea.
Misri said that the “prevention of illegal border crossing” was necessary.
Yunus’s caretaker government is tasked with implementing democratic reforms ahead of fresh elections slated to take place by June 2026.
Modi and Yunus had dinner on Thursday night, sitting next to each other alongside other leaders from the BIMSTEC regional bloc in Bangkok, but the bilateral meeting on Friday was the first since relations frayed between the neighbouring nations.
