India and Bangladesh have quietly begun rebuilding security ties, with a senior Bangladeshi military intelligence official visiting New Delhi late last month for meetings with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other interlocutors, people familiar with the matter said.
Major General Qaiser Rashid Chowdhury, who was promoted and appointed head of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) as part of a major shake-up in the Bangladesh Army hierarchy on February 22, was in the Indian capital less than a week later to attend an annual security meeting held on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue, the sources said, requesting anonymity.
Besides participating in the security meeting, hosted by the Indian National Security Council Secretariat since 2022, Chaudhary held bilateral meetings with Doval and Director General of Military Intelligence, Lt. Gen. R. S. Raman. Chaudhary was also hosted by Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief Parag Jain for dinner, the people said.
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There were no official readouts from the Indian side on the security meeting or Chaudhry’s bilateral meetings, the first such clashes between senior security officials since the government led by Prime Minister Tariq Rahman came to power in Dhaka after the general elections in Bangladesh last month.
These meetings come within the framework of the process of normalizing bilateral relations after the unprecedented tensions witnessed during the term of the interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus. It is understood that Chaudhry’s discussions with his Indian interlocutors focused on revitalizing channels of communication that have been largely dormant since the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government in August 2024, and steps aimed at ensuring that the territories of the two countries are not used for interests inconsistent with the development of good relations.
On the Bangladeshi side, Chaudhry’s visit was kept completely secret, with some reports even indicating that he traveled to New Delhi for “medical reasons.” Reports in sections of the Bangladeshi media on Monday described the arrest of two Bangladeshi nationals in West Bengal in connection with the killing of extremist student leader Sharif Usman Hadi, as a result of a visit by a “senior DGIM official” to India.
People on both sides said that the two countries are working to strengthen security relations, but it would not be entirely accurate to attribute the arrests to the visit of the head of the General Directorate of General Intelligence. The Deputy Bangladesh High Commission in Kolkata said in a statement that Kolkata Police had informed it of the arrest of two Bangladeshi nationals – Faisal Karim Masood, 37, and Alamgir Hossain, 34 – and that it had requested consular access to them.
Reports in Bangladeshi media, citing the Directorate of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) or the military’s media arm, said that Indian authorities made the arrests based on intelligence information shared by Bangladesh. Masoud and Hussain are among the main accused in the killing of Hadi, who died in a Singapore hospital on December 18, almost a week after he was shot in Dhaka.
Doval played a key role in managing security and strategic relations with Bangladesh. He was in contact with his former Bangladeshi counterpart, Khalil Rahman, who was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in the new Bangladesh Nationalist Party government.
India also indicated its desire to quickly repair relations with the BNP when it became clear that the party was preparing to sweep the elections in Bangladesh. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, S. Jaishankar greeted BNP Chairman Tariq Rahman when he traveled to Dhaka on December 31 last year to participate in the funeral of Rahman’s mother, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, and also delivered a message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
India was represented at Rahman’s inauguration ceremony last month by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Foreign Minister Vikram Misri.
