Diplomatic Desk:
Bilateral relations between Bangladesh and India will be based on people-to-people contact, not on any political party-to-political party relationship, said Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed.
He made these remarks during a courtesy call on the Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma at his office in the Ministry of Home Affairs at the Bangladesh Secretariat on Sunday morning (March 01, 2026).
The minister said, “We want to take our relations forward, not backward. We want to renew our relations by learning from past experiences.” He said, “We share a common culture and history. We want to see the mutual dependence of the two countries as a strength, not a weakness. Our relations will be based on common interests.”
The meeting discussed various issues related to security, law and order control, prevention of mob culture and attacks, opening of Indian visa centers and increasing the visa issuance rate, combating cybercrime, stopping border killings, BGB and BSF conference at the Director General level, training exchange between police academies of the two countries, sending trainees to India’s ITEC program for skill enhancement, prisoner exchange, increasing trade and commerce, and strengthening bilateral relations.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Minister welcomed the Indian High Commissioner. The High Commissioner congratulated the newly appointed Home Minister. The Minister thanked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for congratulating the newly elected Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Tarique Rahman. The High Commissioner expressed his hope and said, “We want to restore our historical relations together.”
The Minister requested the High Commissioner to open Indian visa centers and increase the visa issuance rate. In response, the High Commissioner said, “We are issuing sufficient medical visas.” But in the last one and a half years, due to mob attacks and protests on our various visa centers, the visa centers were closed due to overall security reasons and the visa issuance rate was low. He said, currently, a political government has been established in Bangladesh and the law and order situation is improving, so the visa centers will be opened in phases while ensuring security and the visa issuance rate will gradually increase. The minister assured the High Commissioner that there will be no mob attacks on Indian establishments including the Indian visa center. He said that adequate security has been ensured at the Indian High Commission office and the Indian visa centers.
The High Commissioner said that Indian visa applications are now taken online. That is why there have been attempts to hack the website. He requested the minister to take action in this regard. The minister directed the Cyber Crime Unit and Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) to take action in this regard.
The minister said that another issue that hinders the mutual relations of the two countries is border killings. He requested the High Commissioner to reduce the number of border killings to zero as soon as possible. The High Commissioner said that India’s training programs are of very high quality. He stressed the need for more Bangladeshi trainees to participate in skill development trainings under India’s ITEC program. The Minister assured the High Commissioner that more Bangladeshi trainees will be sent to India for skill development trainings for law enforcement agencies.
Deputy High Commissioner Pawan Badhe, Counselor Abhijit Saptarishi and First Secretary Ann Mary George of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, Joint Secretary of Political-1 Directorate of the Ministry of Home Affairs Rebecca Khan and other concerned officials of the ministry were present in the meeting.
