Bangladesh wants India to create a “conducive environment” for a possible visit by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today.
“We have made our position clear on this matter. We are of the view that an appropriate environment needs to be created for this visit,” MoFA Spokesperson Shahidul Karim said during a media briefing at the ministry today.
“To this end, we have requested the Indian authorities to expeditiously act on our request to extradite Sheikh Hasina and other fugitive criminals,” he added.
According to MoFA, Bangladesh and India have been in touch for several weeks over the possibility of a bilateral visit to India by Tarique Rahman.
Bangladesh has also requested India to hand over the accused killers of Sharif Osman Hadi, the spokesperson of Inqilab Moncho, in compliance with the extradition treaty, the spokesperson added.
“We reiterated that we will continue to pursue our balance-first policy to promote bilateral relations with other countries, including our neighbours, on the basis of sovereignty, equality, national dignity, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, and mutual benefit,” he added.
Earlier, diplomatic sources said the prime minister may  visit India between August 20 and 25, with Dhaka and New Delhi discussing the specific dates within the timeframe.
The development follows Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi’s one-to-one meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 11, a day after he met Tarique in Dhaka.