Foreign Affairs Adviser Touhid Hossain has said that bilateral relations with India will not be obstructed even if New Delhi does not return Sheikh Hasina, who was sentenced to death for the brutal killings carried out during the July uprising.

Speaking at a DCAB Talk held at the National Press Club on Sunday, he told journalists that the Dhaka–Delhi relationship is too multidimensional to hinge on a single issue. 

“Even if India does not return Sheikh Hasina, the relationship will not be stuck. We have multifaceted relations with many countries, including India. As she is convicted, Bangladesh hopes to have her back at the earliest,” he said.

Addressing questions on key bilateral issues, the adviser noted that matters such as Teesta water sharing and border killings would continue to run in parallel with the demand to repatriate the former prime minister. 

“These issues are not dependent on one another. Our national interests will remain, and we will continue efforts to secure them. We do not know how long it will take, but we want them to return her so that the sentence can be executed,” he added.

Regarding the extradition of the former home minister, also sentenced to death, he said the government has no concrete information on initiating his return. Although Dhaka is aware of his presence in India, Delhi has not officially confirmed it, nor has any formal discussion taken place on his extradition.

On Bangladesh–India relations, Touhid Hossain described the border killings as a unique situation globally. 

“The Bangladesh–India border is the only frontier in the world where killings occur despite the absence of a state of war. Dhaka has repeatedly condemned these incidents and will continue to do so,” he said.

Rejecting the notion that Bangladesh previously enjoyed a ‘warm relationship’ with India, he argued that such warmth existed only between the two governments. 

“Despite this so-called warm relationship, the past government failed to resolve issues such as border killings or fair water distribution. The people of the two countries did not share that warmth. I do not accept the idea that external ties of that nature constituted a genuinely warm relationship,” he said.