Tarique Rahman's BRICS absence: Bangladesh envoy says 'certain circumstances' kept PM away

Bangladesh's High Commissioner to India M Riaz Hamidullah says Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's absence from the BRICS Summit followed "certain circumstances", amid weeks of back-and-forth between Dhaka and New Delhi.

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s decision not to attend the BRICS Summit in India has emerged as one of the key talking points around Bangladesh’s participation in the grouping, with Dhaka’s envoy in New Delhi offering a carefully worded explanation for the Prime Minister’s absence.

In an exclusive interview, Bangladesh High Commissioner to India M Riaz Hamidullah rejected the suggestion that Rahman had simply “refused” to attend the summit as BIMSTEC chair. Instead, he said the decision was the result of a specific political context and circumstances.

“You're sovereign to your characterization of refusal. I don't think, I'll go or anyone would go to that,” Hamidullah said when asked why Rahman did not travel to India.

He added that Bangladesh had only recently entered a new political phase, saying, “It's been 6.5 months precisely that we now have a democratically elected dispensation in Bangladesh.”

According to the High Commissioner, Rahman’s absence was not a straightforward rejection of the BRICS invitation. “There's a certain context and certain circumstances which actually kind of led to the decision for the Prime Minister not being able to come and join,” he said.

Hamidullah also revealed that the issue had involved discussions between the two sides for several weeks, suggesting that the question of Rahman’s attendance had been the subject of considerable diplomatic engagement.

“I think not only you, I think many others in Delhi, particularly the principals involved in the whole process, they have, they know it's been quite a back and forth over the past few weeks,” he said.

Asked whether those conversations had been difficult, Hamidullah responded with a characteristically diplomatic line: “That's why diplomats are known as strange animals.”

Rahman’s absence was particularly significant because Bangladesh currently holds the chairmanship of BIMSTEC, which was invited to the BRICS Summit as a regional organisation. Hamidullah stressed that BIMSTEC’s presence at the summit was appropriate, particularly because the BRICS meeting was being held in South Asia.

The envoy argued that Bangladesh’s engagement with India should not be reduced to the question of one political figure. He described the relationship between the two countries as “very organic”, spanning economic, social and cultural ties between their peoples.

But when asked whether one person could hold the India-Bangladesh relationship hostage, Hamidullah offered a broader warning centred on dignity, trust and public sentiment.

“If these are not addressed I think it would get difficult for any country to move,” he said, referring to Bangladesh’s aspirations and the concerns of its population.

His comments leave the central question unanswered: what precisely were the “certain circumstances” that kept Tarique Rahman away from New Delhi? But they make clear that Dhaka does not want his absence from the BRICS Summit characterised simply as a refusal.

- Ends