MEA Summons Bangladesh High Commissioner Over Security at Indian Mission in Dhaka

On Wednesday, India recalled Bangladesh high commissioner Riaz Hamidullah and raised a concern over the worsening of security situation in the neighbouring country and ambitions by extremist forces that would impact the security of the Indian mission in Dhaka.

The incident was another low in bilateral relations that have been sour since the rule of former premier Sheikh Hasina collapsed amid the mass protests of the students and a caretaker government headed by Muhammad Yunus was established in August 2024. In the recent days, some groups of extremists have organized demonstrations against the Indian high commission in Dhaka, according to some people.

This is because joint secretary B Shyam who is also the head of the Bangladesh-Myanmar section of the external affairs ministry and acts as a demarche or formal diplomatic representative summoned Hamidullah on condition of anonymity.

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“We expect the interim government to ensure the safety of missions and posts in Bangladesh in keeping with its diplomatic obligations,” the external affairs ministry said in a readout. It observed that Hamidullah was provided with the Indian complaints of the worsening security situation in Bangladesh and the actions of certain extremist groups that have declared their intention to instigate a security situation around the Indian mission in Dhaka.

India supports peace and stability in Bangladesh, and the readout continued by saying that India has repeatedly demanded free, fair, inclusive, and credible elections, which should be held in a peaceful environment.

According to the people mentioned above, one of the catalysts behind the calling of the Bangladeshi envoy was a passionate speech on Monday by National Citizen Party (NCP) leader Hasnat Abdullah who argued that Bangladesh can operate as a refuge of the separatist forces of India and cut off the seven northeastern states- also called the seven sisters - of the rest of Bangladesh.

Abdullah is one of the main student leaders who led the demonstrations against Hasina and he was addressing an event in Dhaka, organised by Inqilab Mancha, the party, whose leader Sharif Osman Hadi is in a critical condition after being shot by unknown gunmen on December 12. Bangladeshi officials and other NCP leaders including Nahid Islam has vaguely indicated that there was some Indian link to the attack on the life of Hadi though it was not substantiated and was again made by Abdullah.

“Those creating chaos and terror in our country, those who tried to kill Hadi, those who are trying to disrupt the election, those who are trying to create instability in the country, those who kill our brothers and sisters on the border, they are being given refuge and support by India,” Abdullah said in his speech on Monday.

“I want to clearly tell India that those who don’t believe in the sovereignty and existence of my country, in voting rights and human rights, since you are giving refuge and support to these forces, we will give refuge and support to the separatist forces in India and sever the seven sisters from India,” he said.

In what might be seen as an allusion to the comments by Abdullah and other Bangladeshi leaders, the readout issued by the external affairs ministry dismissed the fictional account that was attempting to be produced by extremist forces on some recent happenings in Bangladesh. The “interim government has neither conducted a thorough investigation nor shared meaningful evidence with India regarding the incidents”, the readout said.

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The activities of various militant groups in the northeast of India who trained their operations in the neighbouring country in the 1980s and 1990s had been supported or turned a blind eye in the previous governments of Bangladesh. Hasina was a decisive PM in her crack downs of these groups and their leaders.

“India has close and friendly relations with the people of Bangladesh rooted in the liberation struggle, and strengthened through various developmental and people-to-people initiatives,” the readout said.

The foreign ministry of Bangladesh previously told India to ensure that the suspects who had attempted to assassinate Hadi, should not escape to India and that they must be apprehended and extradited as soon as they cross into Indian soil. The external affairs ministry reacted to this by indicating that India had never given its land to be used in carrying out activities that were not in the interest of Bangladesh.

The India-Bangladesh relations have deteriorated since the previous year, with the New Delhi constantly criticising the caretaker administration on its inability to address the issue of oppression of minority in Bangladesh, including the Hindus. It has also condemned the inability of the interim government to address the re-surge of the radical and extremist forces in Bangladesh.

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