New Delhi: Bangladesh on Sunday (August 16) signalled that Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s proposed visit to India this month could be delayed, asking New Delhi to “expeditiously” act on its request to extradite former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and saying her public interaction in Delhi earlier this month had “vitiated” the process of arranging the trip.In a statement, Bangladesh’s foreign ministry said officials from the two countries had been in contact for “several weeks” over the possibility of a bilateral visit by Rahman, but the process had been disrupted by Hasina’s live interaction with journalists in New Delhi on August 5.“However, this process was vitiated by the open press interaction in New Delhi on 5th August by Sheikh Hasina,” the ministry said, referring to the former prime minister, who has been convicted by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal of crimes against humanity.Dhaka said it had already made its position on the issue clear to New Delhi and argued that “a propitious environment needs to be created for the visit”.“To this end, we have requested the Indian authorities to expeditiously act on our request to extradite Sheikh Hasina and other fugitive criminals,” the ministry said. It also asked India to hand over those accused of killing Sharif Osman Hadi, a request it said was made in accordance with the bilateral extradition treaty.“We are awaiting their response,” the ministry said.The statement is the clearest indication, so far, that the dispute over Hasina’s activities from India has become directly entangled with efforts to arrange Rahman’s first bilateral visit to New Delhi since he became Bangladesh’s prime minister in February.The Wire had also reported on Saturday that the earliest possible window for a bilateral visit was Aug 21-23. But, no dates had been confirmed, despite the extremely short time left, with the Hasina issue have kept the negotiations unsettled. Bangladesh coming out publicly with the statement and stating that Hasina matter is delaying the visit is likely a sign that the talks haven’t worked out for now. At the same time, the phrase about a “propitious environment” means that it has also not ruled out a visit.The visit is being planned as a substantive bilateral engagement rather than around the BRICS summit that New Delhi will host in September. Rahman has separately been invited to the summit’s outreach session as the current chair of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation.For Dhaka, the proposed bilateral engagement comes amid several pressing issues with India, including the renewal of the Ganga Waters Treaty, which expires in December, additional fuel supplies and efforts to expand bilateral trade.The Hasina issue, however, has remained one of the most politically sensitive aspects of the relationship since she fled Bangladesh for India in August 2024 following the student-led uprising that ended her 15-year rule.Bangladesh has repeatedly sought her extradition, including after she was sentenced to death in November 2025. India has said the request is being examined in accordance with applicable law and established procedures.The latest dispute began ahead of Hasina’s August 5 appearance at an event organised by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia in New Delhi. Dhaka had warned New Delhi beforehand that allowing Hasina to use Indian territory for political activity could “undermine” bilateral relations.India responded that the event was organised by a private media entity and that the government had “no involvement whatsoever” in it. After the event, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India did not endorse remarks made at the forum about Bangladesh’s “duly constituted government”.Hasina, speaking through an audio link, said she intended to return to Bangladesh in December despite the prospect of arrest. She accused successive governments in Dhaka of dismantling democracy and persecuting political opponents, while rejecting the official account of the events that led to her removal.Bangladesh reacted angrily, describing her appearance as “an affront to the sovereignty of Bangladesh” and saying that allowing her to interact openly with the media from Indian territory was “deeply hurtful” to its people and “detrimental to the development of harmonious bilateral relations”.The dispute was still being discussed when Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi met Rahman on August 10. Bangladesh reiterated its request that India expedite Hasina’s extradition during that meeting, according to the prime minister’s press wing.Trivedi, however, publicly struck an optimistic tone after the meeting, saying that the Indian invitation to Rahman remained open and that New Delhi was looking forward to his visit.“Our invitation has already been extended,” Trivedi told reporters. “The people of India and the Prime Minister of India are looking forward to [the visit], and are positive about it.”He acknowledged that there were issues between the two countries but said the broader objective should be good relations.“The issues have to be sorted out from both sides, and I am very confident, very, very confident,” he said.There had been also a more measured statement from its junior minister that Dhaka was still looking for better relations with India.In Sunday’s statement, the Bangladesh foreign ministry invoked the Tarique Rahman government’s ‘Bangladesh First’ slogan. “We reiterate that we will continue to pursue our ‘Bangladesh First’ policy to promote friendly bilateral relations with other countries, including our neighbours,” it said.Dhaka said that policy would be based on “sovereign equality, national dignity, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs and mutual benefit”.The formulation comes as Rahman’s government seeks to balance the political sensitivity of closer engagement with India at home, where anti-India sentiment has grown substantially since Hasina’s ouster. While relations had appeared to improve after Rahman’s election victory, perceptions in Dhaka have deteriorated amid concerns that New Delhi is insensitive to public sentiment in Bangladesh.Those concerns have been fuelled by remarks by BJP politicians during Indian state assembly elections, reports of Indian border guards “pushing in” people alleged to be undocumented Bangladeshis, and Hasina’s continued political statements from India.