In an unusual diplomatic development, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) declined a request for a meeting from British High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Sarah Cooke, during her visit to New Delhi this week, said sources.
Sources in the MEA said the meeting was sought on January 21, two days after Cooke arrived in the Indian capital from Dhaka, but was turned down for allegedly bypassing established diplomatic protocol.
Cooke arrived in New Delhi on the evening of January 19 and returned to Dhaka on January 22. She was in the Indian capital to meet a range of “distinguished persons” to gauge views on the upcoming Bangladesh elections scheduled for February 12.
According to sources, the MEA declined to grant an appointment as the request for in-person meetings with senior officials did not follow customary diplomatic channels. Despite being denied official meetings, Cooke reportedly met two former Indian diplomats, an academic and a journalist during her stay. Another former Indian diplomat who was contacted to attend a meeting at the British High Commission in New Delhi chose not to participate.
During discussions, Cooke is said to have expressed satisfaction over what she described as a “very good law and order situation” in Bangladesh and stated that the forthcoming election should be “democratic”, even though it is expected to be non-inclusive. The interim regime led by Muhammad Yunus has remained opposed to the participation of the Awami League, headed by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in the electoral process.
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Sources said the former Indian diplomats present at the meeting disagreed with Cooke’s assessment of the law-and-order situation, pointing to what they described as incontrovertible evidence of continued violence and attacks on minorities in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Foreign Ministry sources indicated that Cooke, who previously served as Country Director for the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) in Bangladesh between 2012 and 2016, travelled to New Delhi with two other British diplomats. The visit coincided with the recent assumption of office by US Ambassador Brent Christensen on January 12. Cooke and her colleagues flew to New Delhi on January 19 after meeting Jamaat-e-Islami amir Shafiqur Rahman in Dhaka, a development that sparked speculation about the purpose of her visit.
Bangladeshi geopolitical analysts noted that Cooke’s position on law and order, as well as her remarks on the need for a “unity government”, appeared at odds with ground realities and reflected what they described as a continuing soft stance towards Jamaat-e-Islami. They pointed out that successive Western diplomats, including former US Ambassador Peter Haas, have sought to project the Islamist party as a mainstream political force.
The United States is believed to have played a behind-the-scenes role in the political developments and student-led movement that led to the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government in August 2024. British foreign and security agencies are also understood to have played a less visible role in the regime change events.
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