The interim government's Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs Adviser, Dr Asif Nazrul has strongly condemned the attack on the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala, India, alleging a failure by the Indian government to ensure security for the diplomatic mission.
In a post on his verified Facebook page on Monday night, Asif Nazrul expressed his outrage over the incident, calling it a serious breach of international diplomatic norms.
He wrote: “Today, the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala, India, was vandalized, and Bangladeshi national symbols were desecrated. Members of an organization called Hindu Sangharsh Samiti carried out this heinous act. I ask, if a group called ‘Muslim Sangharsh Samiti’ had committed a similar incident in Bangladesh, what kind of aggressive campaign would India have launched?”
Asif highlighted the responsibility of the Indian government under international law to ensure the safety of diplomatic missions on its soil and called the failure to prevent the attack unacceptable. “I condemn this failure outright,” he said.
The adviser also criticised West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her recent comments on Bangladesh, accusing her of deflecting attention from internal issues in India.
“What is happening in different parts of India to minorities and Dalit communities is a matter of shame for India—and Mamata Banerjee should reflect on this before making statements about Bangladesh.”
“India must understand that this is not Sheikh Hasina's Bangladesh, which appeased India in the hope of clinging to power without democratic legitimacy. This Bangladesh is independent, sovereign, and self-respecting.”
He concluded his post with a message of empowerment: “This is the Bangladesh of a fearless and self-reliant young generation.”
On Monday, a group of Hindu extremists allegedly attacked the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala following a rally held protesting against what the demonstrators said the oppression of Bangladeshi Hindus and the arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, a former leader of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).
In a media statement on Monday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of India said, “The incident earlier today of the breach of premises at the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala is deeply regrettable. Diplomatic and consular properties should not be targeted under any circumstances.”
The Indian government is taking action to step up security arrangements for the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi and their Deputy/Assistant High Commissions in the country, it added.
Meanwhile, the government of Bangladesh on Monday 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 28 November 2024.
“This particular act in Agartala stands in violation of the inviolability of diplomatic missions, as the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961, asks for,” the ministry said.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
