Non-essential staff at Indian High Commission in Bangladesh returning, say reports
Indian diplomats continued to operate out of the facility in the country’s capital Dhaka.
Non-essential staffers at the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh’s Dhaka are voluntarily returning to India on commercial flights along with their families, PTI quoted unidentified officials as saying on Wednesday.
The High Commission remained functional with Indian diplomats operating out of the facility, the officials added.
This came two days after Sheikh Hasina resigned as the country’s prime minister and fled to India amid massive protests against her Awami League-led government.
On Tuesday, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said that the situation in Bangladesh was still evolving and that the Indian government is in touch with its citizens there.
Jaishankar said in the Rajya Sabha that concerns about the recent “violence and instability” in Bangladesh were shared across the political spectrum. He added that Delhi had been in “regular touch with the authorities” in Dhaka.
Jaishankar added that there were an estimated 19,000 Indian citizens in Bangladesh. Of these, nearly 9,000 were students. “The bulk of the students, however, have already returned to India in the month of July [facilitated by] the High Commission,” he said.
The minister said Delhi is monitoring the situation “with regard to the status of minorities” in Bangladesh.
“There are reports of initiative by various groups and organisations to ensure their well-being,” he said. “We welcome that but will naturally remain deeply concerned till law and order is visibly restored.”
Media reports claimed that Hindu homes and business establishments were attacked by mobs in at least 27 districts of Bangladesh over the last two days. Hindu houses and businesses were also looted in some places, according to The Daily Star.
The minister said the Indian government expects Bangladesh to “provide the required security protection” to the Indian diplomatic missions there, including the Assistant High Commissions in Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna and Sylhet.
India’s border-guarding forces have been instructed to be “exceptionally alert” in view of the situation in Bangladesh, he added.
Hasina fled the country along with her younger sister, Sheikh Rehana, after the student-led protests against a controversial quota scheme for government jobs, which started in July, evolved into a broader, violent agitation against her administration.
After Hasina left the country, the Bangladesh Army said it would form an interim government. Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has been appointed as the head of this new government.