The Indian national security and foreign ministry establishments acted in tandem to put together the September 27 meeting between Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Washington, DC, highly-placed sources have revealed to the Northeast News.
The sources said that the official chosen to organise the Hasina-Sullivan meeting, at the insistence of the former, is a 1987 batch IFS officer holding a senior position in a multilateral organisation headquartered in New York. Sheikh Hasina arrived in New York on September 17 to take part in the 78th United Nations General Assembly session. She left New York for Washington, DC, on September 23.
Four days later, a small US team led by Sullivan arrived at the Bangladesh embassy for the “secretive” meeting with Hasina. Neither any American, nor India and not even Bangladeshi journalist got any wind of the meeting. It was as late as October 4, the day Sheikh Hasina returned to Dhaka, that unidentified officials quietly briefed an Indian wire agency journalist about the Hasina-Sullivan meeting, without disclosing the substantive issues that came up during the discussions.
The US team, sources said, raised three key issues – the forthcoming elections in Bangladesh, the poor health condition of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) supremo Begum Khaleda Zia, the unusual number of cases lodged against Nobel peace Prize winner Dr Mohammad Yunus – with Sheikh Hasina.
Till this point, the atmosphere in the Bangladesh embassy room, in which the Indian official too was present, was warm and congenial, with Sheikh Hasina providing her views on the three issues raised by Sullivan who was accompanied by a few other US officials.
However, when the Bangladesh prime minister raised the fourth issue involving a “high value” person, the Americans’ response was strictly in accordance with the book.
The sources said that Sheikh Hasina, reportedly dissatisfied with the US officials’ response, rose from her seat and stood there briefly, leaving all the others in room tense. This followed the exchange of routine pleasantries as the guests departed.
This abrupt departure from the meeting venue left both the Indian and US officials more than surprised and embarrassed and a little annoyed, the sources said. When the Indian official shared the details of the meeting with senior colleagues in Delhi, they too were reportedly surprised by the manner in which the meeting concluded.
Following Sheikh Hasina’s return to Dhaka, a senior Awami League ‘old guard’ leader flew into Delhi on October 10 and held closed-door meetings with two senior officials from India’s national security bureaucracy.
Close on the heels of the visit of this veteran Awami League leader, Bangladesh Jatiya Sangshad speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury also flew to Delhi and met senior officials. These meetings were “probing” in nature, the sources said, refusing to disclose details.
Sources in Dhaka, familiar with Bangladesh’s constitutional procedures, said that in the event the head of government becomes indisposed, for whatever reasons, the president assumes the role of the chief executive. The next in line is the parliament speaker.
