Bangladesh envoy to India holds talks with interim Govt advisers

Two senior advisers of Bangladesh's interim Government met the country's envoy to India on Tuesday to discuss "various issues", officials said. Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Riaz Hamidullah reached Dhaka late Monday after receiving an urgent call, amid strained bilateral ties, according to media reports. Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain and National Security Adviser Khalilur Rahman held a meeting with Hamidullah at the foreign office, officials from the foreign ministry said.

The officials did not elaborate on the topics of discussion, while Hossain declined to comment when approached. “We call the high commissioner from time to time. We discussed various issues,” Rahman told journalists. According to The Dhaka Tribune newspaper, the meeting lasted for around half an hour. Hamidullah reached Dhaka overnight on an “urgent call” by the foreign ministry in view of strained bilateral ties, the Prothom Alo newspaper reported.

“In view of the recent situation of bilateral ties with India, Bangladesh High Commissioner in New Delhi M Riaz Hamidullah, was called to Dhaka on an urgent basis,” it said, quoting foreign office sources. In recent weeks, the two countries have summoned each other's envoys while the two foreign offices made comments and issued statements over various issues, including the security of their diplomatic missions and persecution of minority community members.