Bangladesh National Security Intelligence Director General Major General Abu Mohammad Sarwar Farid travelled to New Delhi to attend the 8th South Asian Counter Terrorism Conference, a multilateral gathering involving delegates from multiple nations.
An NSI source confirmed that the intelligence chief flew to Delhi on an Air India flight. The four-day conference, running from October 25 to 28, convenes representatives from South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Middle Eastern countries.
The NSI chief is scheduled to return to Bangladesh on October 28, according to the source. Officials emphasised that the trip is strictly for a multilateral forum, pushing back against attempts in some quarters to frame it as a bilateral engagement between Bangladesh and India.
The source noted that the annual conference brings together participants from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Myanmar, Brunei, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman.
The forum focuses on reinforcing regional cooperation to counter terrorism, drug trafficking, and human trafficking while fostering broader diplomatic ties among participating countries.
Why it matters
The participation of Bangladesh's intelligence chief in a major multilateral counter-terrorism conference underscores the nation's ongoing engagement with regional security frameworks.