Bangladesh summons Indian envoy to protest incidents near mission in India

BAngladesh on tues summoned native american heights commissioner Pranay Verma to dissent against “ too bad incidents” outside the Bangladeshi mission in New Delhi and the vandalisation of a visa centre in Siliguri, shortly before security personnel prevented protesters from marching towards the Bangladeshi mission in New Delhi.The developments reflected fresh tensions between the two sides that have further strained bilateral ties which are at an all-time low. This was the second time in 10 days that Verma was summoned to the foreign ministry in Dhaka for lodging a protest, while Bangladesh high commissioner Riaz Hamidullah was called in to the external affairs ministry last week for a protest over deteriorating security in the neighbouring country.Verma was summoned by Bangladesh foreign secretary Asad Alam Siam, and a readout issued in Dhaka said the foreign ministry conveyed its “grave concern” over “regrettable incidents outside the perimeter of the Bangladesh high commission and residence in New Delhi” on December 20 and acts of vandalism at the Bangladesh visa centre in Siliguri on December 22 by “extremist elements”.“Bangladesh also expressed deep concern over violent protests staged outside the premises of the different diplomatic missions of Bangladesh in India,” the readout said.There was no immediate response from the external affairs ministry. People familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity that there can be no equivalence between the violent protest outside India’s assistant high commission in Chittagong on December 18 and the protests outside Bangladesh’s diplomatic facilities in India.“In New Delhi, the protesters were stopped more than 500 metres away from the Bangladeshi mission [on Tuesday] and there was heightened security on the road leading to the mission,” one of the people said. “In the case of Chittagong, the protesters came right up to the Indian mission and petrol bombs and stones were thrown by them.”The Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal announced over the weekend that its members would protest outside the Bangladeshi mission on Tuesday over the recent lynching of a Hindu man named Dipu Chandra Das in Mymensingh. Das, a garment factory worker, was beaten to death and his body was tied to a tree and burnt.A large police contingent was posted near the Bangladeshi mission on Tuesday morning and the protesters were stopped with barricades and later put into buses and driven away from the spot. No untoward incidents were reported during the protest.Following a protest outside the Bangladesh high commission over Das’s killing late on Saturday night, India dismissed reports of a security breach at the mission as “misleading propaganda” and expressed concern at the “horrendous killing” of the Hindu man and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.Bangladesh’s foreign ministry contested India’s description of the incident outside its mission in New Delhi and said “an isolated attack” on a Bangladeshi Hindu man should not be depicted as an attack on minorities. The war of words came against the backdrop of a sharp downturn in bilateral ties following anti-India protests in Bangladesh over the killing of radical student leader Sharif Osman Hadi.Protests were organised near India’s missions in Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and Rajshahi as some of Bangladesh’s student leaders and politicians claimed Hadi’s killers had sneaked into India. However, Bangladesh Police announced over the weekend that the whereabouts of the assailants aren’t known.Bangladesh has suspended visa services at its missions in New Delhi and Agartala and at the visa centre in Siliguri, whereas India has suspended visa services only at the mission in Chittagong.Since the collapse of former premier Sheikh Hasina’s government and the formation of the caretaker administration led by Muhammad Yunus in August 2024, the two sides have repeatedly clashed on a number of issues, with New Delhi accusing Dhaka of failing to prevent attacks on the country’s minorities.