Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata’s acting mission chief Sikder Mohammad Ashrafur Rahman has returned home and met Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain on Thursday as part of “consultations.”
Assistant High Commissioner in Tripura Arifur Rahman was also scheduled to return home following the recent incidents in Kolkata and Agartala, said a diplomatic source.
Tensions between Bangladesh and India escalated following Monday's attack by a Hindu religious group on the Bangladesh mission in Agartala, Tripura, prompting the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry to summon the Indian High Commissioner for a formal protest.
Amid the evolving situation, Bangladesh authorities on Tuesday suspended all visa and consular services at the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala.
The government of Bangladesh said it "deeply resents" the "violent demonstration and attack" by a large group of protesters of the Hindu Sangharsh Samity of Agartala on the premises of the Assistant High Commission of Bangladesh in Agartala.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement, underlined that this "heinous attack" on a diplomatic mission of Bangladesh and desecration of the national flag of Bangladesh comes in a pattern, further to a similar violent demonstration in Kolkata on November 28, 2024.
"It is very clear that we want good relations, but it should be reciprocal. We need to work to that end," Adviser Hossain told reporters while responding to a question at the foreign ministry on Wednesday.
UNB/NY
