Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain spoke to reporters at a regular briefing at the foreign ministry today. Photo: MoFA

DHAKA, July 3, 2025 (BSS) – Bangladesh will continue to pursue the extradition issue of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina from India, Foreign Affairs Adviser M Touhid Hossain said here today.

“We have sent a letter (to Delhi seeking her extradition), if necessary we will follow it up,” Hossain told reporters during media briefing when asked if the interim government regretted since its extradition request yielded no result in the past several months.

Hossein, however retorted the word “regret” calling it a “loaded term” saying “I don’t know who has how much regret” over the issue.

Bangladesh had sent a diplomatic note or note verbale to India in December last year, along with supporting documents, formally requesting Hasina’s extradition while New Delhi acknowledged its receipt.

Responding to a question on the status of the pending water sharing issues with India the adviser said the long-awaited Teesta water-sharing deal and the renewal of the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty, set to expire next year, needed to be resolved through bilateral discussions.

“These matters require dialogue and negotiation, and we are pursuing that path,” he said.

Asked if the informal trilateral meeting between Dhaka, Beijing and Islamabad was intended as an alternative alliance to SAARC, the adviser said such an interpretation was “not accurate”.

“The meeting was never seen as an alternative to SAARC. It was a discussion on potential areas of cooperation, and in no way was it an alliance,” Hossain said.