Bangladesh's Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed will skip the first-ever meeting of BIMSTEC home ministers in New Delhi on Tuesday, with Dhaka sending a senior bureaucrat instead amid strained relations with India.

Manzur Morshed Chowdhury, senior secretary at the Home Ministry, will lead a four-member Bangladeshi delegation to the meeting, the first of its kind since the seven-nation regional bloc was established nearly three decades ago.

Daily Waadaa independently confirmed the development from a source in the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi

The decision follows Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's absence from the BRICS summit outreach session in Delhi last month.

India had invited Tarique in his capacity as the current chair of BIMSTEC.

The Bangladesh government said at the time that the invitation had been extended to him as BIMSTEC chair, rather than as Bangladesh's prime minister.

The home minister's absence was confirmed in an official diplomatic communication.

In a letter sent to the BIMSTEC secretariat on October 4, Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry nominated a four-member delegation for the October 12–13 meetings.

Salahuddin's name was not included. The letter identified Manzur Morshed Chowdhury as the delegation leader.

An urgent communication from the BIMSTEC secretariat to member states on October 5 provided further details.

It confirmed that Bangladesh had submitted its nominations on October 4.

By October 5, the secretariat had received nominations from Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka.

Myanmar, Nepal and Thailand were asked to submit their representatives' names without delay.

The secretariat had initially requested nominations from member states on September 2.

Indian Home Minister Amit Shah will chair Tuesday's ministerial meeting, according to the BIMSTEC secretariat and diplomatic sources in Delhi.

Indian Home Secretary Govind Mohan will lead Monday's meeting of senior officials.

The other participating countries are expected to be represented by Bhutan's Home Minister Lungten Dorji, Myanmar's Home Minister General Ko Ko Oo, Nepal's Home Minister Sudan Gurung and Sri Lanka's Home Minister Chandana Abeyratne and Thailand's Deputy Interior Minister Sungsak Thongsri, reported Prothom Alo newspaper.

The meeting is expected to focus on strengthening regional cooperation against terrorism and transnational organised crime.

Discussions will cover human trafficking, drug trafficking, money laundering and terrorist financing.

Improving coordination among law enforcement, intelligence and security agencies across member states will also be on the agenda.

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