Sawt Falasteen - India and Bangladesh leaders meet for first time since revolution

Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, 84, took charge of Bangladesh in August 2024 after India's old ally Sheikh Hasina was toppled as prime minister by a student-led uprising and fled by helicopter to India.

India was the biggest benefactor of Hasina's government, and her overthrow sent cross-border relations into a tailspin, culminating in Yunus choosing to make his first state visit last month to China -- India's biggest rival.

Amid the festering diplomatic dispute, Bangladesh has also moved closer to India's arch-enemy Pakistan.

Tensions between India and Bangladesh have prompted a number of tit-for-tat barbs between senior figures from both governments.

New Delhi has in the past has repeatedly accused Muslim-majority Bangladesh of failing to adequately protect its minority Hindu citizens -- charges denied by the caretaker administration of Yunus.

On Friday, Yunus posted a picture on social media showing him shaking hands with Modi, and his press secretary Shafiqul Alam later said the "meeting was constructive, productive, and fruitful".

Their meeting took place on the sidelines of a regional summit in Thailand.

Yunus also shared a photograph of the two men smiling as he handed Modi a framed picture of themselves a decade ago -- when the Indian leader in 2015 honoured the micro-finance pioneer with a gold medal for this work supporting the poorest of society.

There was no immediate statement from New Delhi.

Yunus, according to his press secretary, also raised with Modi the issue of Dhaka's long-running complaint at 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.

Yunus also raised concerns of 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.

The caretaker government of Yunus 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 bloc in Bangkok -- but the bilateral sit-down on Friday was the first since relations frayed between the neighbouring nations.

N.Awad--SF-PST