Bangladesh descended into chaos on Monday as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina surreptitiously resigned and fled the country in a military aircraft while the Army stepped in to fill the power vacuum.
Bangladesh has summoned its Acting Deputy High Commissioner in Kolkata for urgent consultations following protests over attacks on Hindu minorities. The mission in Kolkata has witnessed multiple protests over the past week by political parties and religious groups condemning the reported atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh. In a related development, the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala, Tripura, suspended all visa and consular services on Tuesday, citing security reasons. The decision followed an incident where protesters breached the mission's premises on Monday to protest the arrest of Hindu spiritual leader Chinmoy Krishna Das in Dhaka.
Bangladesh is in turmoil, which is not good news for India, which shares a porous 4000 km border with it. There is a danger of fundamentalism growing there, and India has to move in to reset its ties with the new dispensation before China and Pakistan make capital out of it, alerts Ramesh Menon.
Shringla visited Dhaka in March last after assuming office of the Indian Foreign Secretary in January this year.
Muhammad Yunus on Thursday promised to deliver a government which assures safety to its citizens, as the Nobel laureate returned to the protest-torn Bangladesh from Paris to take oath as the head of the interim government following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina.
Bangladesh's veteran opener Tamim Iqbal has announced his retirement from international cricket for the second time.
The pacts signed after Modi-Hasina talks provided for deeper cooperation between the two countries in areas of water resources, youth affairs, culture, education and coastal surveillance.
'In the interim, India will be confronted with anti-India feeling because Sheikh Hasina had India's support.' 'We will have to deal with it, but it will not be a permanent phenomenon.' 'There is substantial goodwill towards India which will stand us in good stead.'
The Centre for Democracy, Pluralism and Human Rights (CDPHR) on Friday presented a report on the state of minorities in Bangladesh following the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024.
Ties between India and Bangladesh came under severe strain after deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to leave the country in the face of a massive anti-government protest in August 2024.
Over 100 people have been killed in the violence across Bangladesh as chaos reigned supreme hours after Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister and fled the country on Monday, reports said on Tuesday amid signs of return to normalcy.
'This was a government that wanted nobody outside Bangladesh to know that they were simply inept and run by a highly authoritarian leader who was afraid of any criticism towards herself.'
According to the available information, two Hindu leaders, who were incidentally leaders of Hasina's Awami League party, were killed in north-western Sirajganj and Rangpur, Debnath said, adding that the Council was still gathering more information.
Chief Adviser to Bangladesh's interim government, Muhammad Yunus, has said the issue of attacks on minority Hindus in his country is 'exaggerated' and questioned the manner in which India projected it.
The Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre located in Dhaka's Dhanmondi area was damaged by the unruly mob, according to eyewitnesses.
There is a "high possibility" of a meeting between Bangladesh Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok, a senior official said. The meeting comes amid strained ties between the two countries, marked by India's concerns over violence against Hindus and a rise of hardline Islamist forces in Bangladesh. Yunus's recent comments about India's northeastern states being landlocked and Bangladesh being the "only guardian of the ocean" in the region have drawn sharp reactions from Indian politicians. However, a Bangladesh official insists that Yunus's statement was misinterpreted.
In an interview to Gulf News, referring to India's new citizenship law, Hasina said, "We don't understand why (the Indian government) did it. It was not necessary."
Professor Yunus is in New York, accompanied by young Bangladeshis who led the student uprising against Hasina, and the bon homie he shared with two US presidents, current and past, will add masala to the conspiracy theorists.
Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus-led interim government in Bangladesh will take oath on Thursday, Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman said.
'Bangladesh has become unstable and this instability will impact India.'
Taking a dig at a section of Bangladeshi politicians, who said the country has legitimate claims over Bengal, Bihar and Odisha, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday wondered whether Indians 'would have lollipop' when external forces would try to occupy Indian lands.
The visit to Dhaka by the Pakistani military officials came after a delegation of Bangladeshi military officials toured Pakistan and held meetings with the three service chiefs.
Bangladesh's interim government on Wednesday said it is 'consulting all stakeholders' to decide the fate of President Mohammed Shahabuddin, as authorities beefed up security around his residence in the wake of protests demanding his removal over comments that raised questions on prime minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation.
He also said that there is improvement in the law and order situation in the country.
A senior Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader has blamed an 'ecosystem of former diplomats, bureaucrats, politicians, and think tanks' for creating a 'bogeyman' to mislead the Indian establishment into believing that Indo-Bangla relations would deteriorate without the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League.
BJP leader and India Foundation founder Shaurya Doval said there may be certain perceptions that need to be set right initially as India "went long on relations with Sheikh Hasina".
Yunus, 84, was administered the oath of office by President Mohammed Shahabuddin at a ceremony at the presidential palace 'Bangabhaban'.
Amateur Ham Radio operators have picked up suspicious late-night radio signals in coded Bengali, Urdu and Arabic along the Indo-Bangladesh border in South Bengal over the last two months, raising concerns about possible extremist activities. The signals, which have been detected between 1 AM and 3 AM, are unusual in their pattern and language usage, according to Ham radio operators, who have reported the matter to authorities. The development comes amidst ongoing unrest in Bangladesh and growing anti-India rhetoric in the neighbouring country. Security agencies are investigating the matter, and the Border Security Force (BSF) has acknowledged the seriousness of the situation.
Moreover, the process to release those arrested between July 1 to August has started, and many have already been released, it added.
India has expressed concerns over a rise in violence against Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh and Pakistan, reporting 2,200 cases in Bangladesh and 112 in Pakistan this year. The Indian government has urged both countries to take measures to ensure the safety of minorities and has highlighted the issue at international forums. The government has also stated that it is monitoring the situation closely and has shared its concerns with the respective governments.
Several Hindu temples, households and businesses have been vandalised, and at least two Hindu leaders affiliated with former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League party have been killed in the violence since Monday, when Hasina resigned and fled to India.
The Director General of Bangladesh's Border Guard (BGB), Maj Gen Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui, has denied reports of attacks on minorities in Bangladesh after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in August 2024, calling them "exaggerated." He cited the peaceful celebration of Durga Puja as evidence and pointed to the security provided by BGB to minority communities. The BGB also raised objections to India's fencing along the border during the bi-annual talks with the BSF.
A day after her release from house arrest, Bangladesh's former prime minister and Bangladesh National Party (BNP) chairperson Khaleda Zia on Wednesday thanked the people of the country for their 'struggle to make possible the impossible' and said it is not 'anger' or 'revenge' but 'love and peace' which will rebuild the nation.
A court in Bangladesh on Thursday denied bail to a Hindu priest and a former International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) leader in a sedition case.
Former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday night met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and is understood of have discussed a gamut of bialteral issues.
A retired judge of Bangladesh's Supreme Court was detained from the northeastern frontier with India in Sylhet while he was allegedly attempting to flee the country, the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) said late on Friday.
Life has come full circle for Nobel laureate Professor Mohammad Yunus, who faced persecution during Sheikh Hasina's regime for embezzlement, is now all set to head of the interim government in Bangladesh after she resigned and fled the country.
The other members of the interim government will be finalised after consultations with various political parties, the press secretary added.
The father of Shariful Islam, the Bangladeshi man accused of stabbing actor Saif Ali Khan, claims his son was framed and is seeking help from the Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry and the Indian High Commission for his release. He alleges that Shariful was living in India illegally without proper documentation and was in fear of arrest. Ruhul claims his son was not the person seen in the CCTV footage and believes there might be a conspiracy. He says Shariful left Bangladesh after the re-election of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, fearing for his safety.
He made the remarks during a meeting with the leaders of various political parties and civil society representatives at Bangabhaban in the presence of the chief of three forces, the Bengali-language daily Prothom Alo reported.
