National security adviser Ajit Doval holds talks with Bangladeshi counterpart on bilateral issues

The Bangladesh delegation to the NSA-level meeting of the CSC, led by Rahman, met Ajit Doval and his team on Wednesday.(ANI/File Photo)

The discussions took place on the eve of the 7th meeting of the NSAs of the Colombo Security Conclave (CSC)

National security adviser Ajit Doval on Wednesday November 19, 2025 held talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart Khalilur Rahman on a range of bilateral issues in Delhi, the highly anticipated meeting coming two days after a Bangladeshi tribunal gave the death sentence to former premier Sheikh Hasina after convicting her of crimes against humanity while cracking down on student-led protests last year, officials aware of the matter said.

The discussions took place on the eve of the 7th meeting of the NSAs of the Colombo Security Conclave (CSC), a forum that seeks to promote closer cooperation between member states — India, Maldives, Mauritius, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh — on vital matters of security and to strengthen partnership for boosting regional security in the vast Indian Ocean region where China is boosting its influence, the officials said.

The Bangladesh delegation to the NSA-level meeting of the CSC, led by Rahman, met Doval and his team on Wednesday, the High Commission for Bangladesh said in a statement.

“They discussed the work of CSC and key bilateral issues,” it said, adding that Rahman invited Doval to visit Bangladesh at his convenience.

The meeting is being seen as significant as the foreign ministry in Dhaka on Monday demanded that New Delhi hand Hasina over to Bangladesh under a bilateral extradition treaty. The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), a domestic war crimes court set up by the current regime, also gave her a separate sentence of imprisonment until death after convicting her of inciting, facilitating, being complicit in, and failing to prevent crimes against civilians by law enforcement and armed cadres of the Awami League party.

Hasina, Bangladesh’s longest-serving PM, resigned amid massive protests, and fled to India in August 2024.

She reacted to the death sentence by saying it was announced by a “rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government” and aimed at nullifying the Awami League as a political force. Bangladesh chief adviser Muhammad Yunus said the conviction underscored that “no one, regardless of power, is above the law”.

Hours after the verdict on November 17, Bangladesh’s foreign ministry demanded that Hasina and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who too was given the death sentence, should be immediately handed over by India under a bilateral extradition treaty.

The Indian side, in its first formal response, was non-committal on the demand for handing over Hasina and said New Delhi will engage with all stakeholders in Dhaka for peace, democracy and stability in Bangladesh, as reported by ANI

Hasina was tried along with two of her top aides – former home minister Kamal and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun – for crimes against humanity for their role in handling the protests last year. Kamal, who fled Bangladesh after the fall of Hasina’s government, is believed to be in Kolkata.

Seychelles will be participating in the CSC on November 20 as an observer state, and Malaysia has been invited as a guest, the Indian ministry of external affairs said on Wednesday November 19, 2025 .

(Source -ANI )