Dhaka summons Indian high commissioner

Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma has been summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs.

He was asked to appear at the Ministry of External Affairs at 4 pm on Tuesday.

Earlier, on Monday afternoon, an attack was carried out on the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala, India. At that time, the national flag of Bangladesh was pulled and torn. It is known that the supporters of an organization called 'Hindu Sangharsh Samiti' carried out the attack. The Ministry of External Affairs of India has expressed regret over the incident.

It is known that the 'Hindu Sangharsh Samiti' held a meeting in front of the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala against the arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das. After the meeting, a delegation of the organization went to the High Commission office to submit a memorandum. At that time, some youths who were outside suddenly entered the Assistant High Commission office and pulled down and tore the national flag of Bangladesh. They vandalized some signboards of the High Commission office and set it on fire. Later, the Ministry of External Affairs of India expressed regret over the incident.

Later on Monday, Bangladesh reacted strongly to the attack in a statement. It said, ‘The Bangladesh government is deeply outraged by the violent protests and attacks on the premises of the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission by the Hindu Sangharsh Samiti protesters in Agartala.’

The statement further said, ‘Information received conclusively proves that the protesters entered the premises by breaking the main gate of the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in a pre-planned manner. During this time, in the presence of members of the local law enforcement agencies, they vandalized the flagpole, desecrated the national flag of Bangladesh and also damaged the property inside the Assistant High Commission. Regrettably, the local police members who were in charge of guarding the High Commission premises did not play an active role in controlling the situation from the beginning. All members of the Assistant High Commission are suffering from insecurity.’

‘The Bangladesh government would also like to inform that this heinous attack on a diplomatic mission of Bangladesh and the disrespect of the national flag of Bangladesh have come in a pattern, with similar violent protests taking place in Kolkata on November 28. Such an attack on the diplomatic mission in Agartala is a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961.