DHAKA: The Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala has suspended all consular services till further notice, citing security reasons, after seven people were arrested for breaching the mission’s security barricades and damaging property a day earlier, Hindustan Times reported on Tuesday.

Security personnel kept vigil amid heightened security at the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission after protests erupted in Tripura over alleged attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh.

“Given the security situation, all visa and consular services at the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission, Agartala will remain suspended until further notice. This comes into effect immediately. This is for intimation of all the Visa and Consular service seekers”, read a notice signed by First Secretary of Bangladesh Assistant High Comm­ission, Mohammad Al-Ameen.

Bangladesh on Tuesday summoned New Delhi’s ambassador after an attack on one of its consulates in India, the latest flare-up in strained ties between the neighbours.

Relations have been frayed by the student-led uprising in August that toppled Bangladesh’s autocratic former leader Sheikh Hasina, who is now residing in India.

New Delhi has repeatedly dema­nded protection of Bangladesh’s Hindu minority community, which saw reprisal attacks in the chaotic aftermath of Hasina’s ouster because of their perceived support for her government.

Agartala attack

Hindu activists on Monday attempted to storm a Bangladeshi consulate during a protest in Agartala, a small Indian city not far from the two countries’ shared border.

India has condemned the breach and local police have arrested seven people.

After meeting Bangladesh foreign ministry officials, Indian High Comm­­­issioner (ambassador) Pran­ay Verma said his country was committed to engaging with the interim government, which took office after Hasina’s ouster to implement democratic reforms.

“This is a wide-ranging relationship, a multifaceted relationship,” Verma told reporters.

“We remain interested in working with the government of Bang­ladesh to fulfil our shared aspirations for security and development.”

Public sentiment in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million continues to be stacked against India, which was Hasina’s main international patron during her iron-fisted, 15-year rule.

Nahid Islam, a 26-year-old sociology graduate who played a key part in the protests against Hasina’s regime and is now part of the interim cabinet, in a post on X accused “India’s ruling elite” of “fostering hatred against Bangladesh”

“By continuing to provide refuge and support to Sheikh Hasina, a fugitive responsible for genocide and child killings, the Indian government risks undermining shared democratic values,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2024