What New Delhi is worried about is the possibility of a surge in extremism in Bangladesh, as the radical organisations may find it easier to expand with Hasina and her Awami League out of power. Some of the radical organisations in Bangladesh have links with the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and other terrorist outfits based in Pakistan as well as with the Pakistan Army’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which might like to expand its activities in the eastern neighbour of its arch-enemy India.
Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin dissolved Parliament on Tuesday and appointed Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus as the head of an interim government, a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina abruptly resigned and fled the country following weeks of violent protests.
The decision was made in a meeting President Shahabuddin had with chiefs of the three services and a 13-member delegation of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement at Bangabhaban (presidential palace), President's Press Secretary Md. Joynal Abedin said late Tuesday night.
Sheikh Hasina's flight from Bangladesh brings to a sorry end a half century in Bangladesh's history, starting from its 1971 liberation from Pakistan. Hasina is the daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led the freedom struggle.
Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Tuesday said what is happening in Bangladesh can happen in the country though "everything may look normal on the surface".
The former Union minister was speaking at the launch of academician Mujibur Rehman's book Shikwa-e-Hind: The Political Future of Indian Muslims.
Dhaka/New Delhi: The night before long-time leader Sheikh Hasina abruptly fled Bangladesh amid deadly protests, her army chief held a meeting with his generals and decided that troops would not open fire on civilians to enforce a curfew, two serving army officers with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters.
Gen. Waker-Uz-Zaman then reached out to Hasina's office, conveying to the prime minister that his soldiers would be unable to implement the lockdown she had called for, according to an Indian official briefed on the matter.
The message was clear, the official said: Hasina no longer had the army's support.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that the U.S. was watching the situation in Bangladesh very closely and any decisions made by an interim government must respect democratic principles, uphold the rule of law and reflect the will of the country's people. (Reuters)
Retired senior soldiers such as Brig. Gen. Mohammad Shahedul Anam Khan were among those who defied the curfew on Monday and took to the streets.
In Bangladesh, resentment still lingered even among retired soldiers that Hasina had been allowed to leave.
"Personally, I feel that she should not have been given a safe passage," said Khan, the veteran. "That was a folly." (Reuters)
Sadhguru on atrocities in Bangladesh
All non-essential staff, including their families have been recalled. However, the Indian High Commission remains functional and all diplomats continue working from Bangladesh.
France's foreign ministry advised citizens on Wednesday to still limit travel to Bangladesh even though calm appears to be gradually returning after protests forced the prime minister to quit the country, it said in a travel advisory.
-Reuters
Kolkata, Aug 7 (PTI) Despite ongoing political turmoil in Bangladesh, trade between India and the neighbouring country through land ports in West Bengal is expected to normalise soon while some movements of goods via one of these facilities were reported on Wednesday, officials said.
A meeting between the land port authorities of the two countries is scheduled on Wednesday at South Asia's largest land port Petrapole in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district, which is "expected to provide clarity on transportation of goods", the officials said.
The Director General of the Border Security Force was also in Petrapole on Tuesday to review the situation along the international boundary in the wake of the crisis in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh's protest leaders said they expect members of an interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, to be finalised on Wednesday.
Bangladesh's president appointed Yunus, who was recommended by student leaders, as the head of the interim government late on Tuesday and said the remaining members need to be finalised soon to overcome the current crisis and pave way for elections. (Reuters)
Bangladesh's ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India following mass protests against her government, is going to stay in Delhi “for a little while,” her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy said on Wednesday.She has not made a decision on that yet. She is going to stay in Delhi for a little while. My sister is with her. So she is not alone,” Joy said. (PTI)
Hundreds of Bangladeshi nationals gathered at the international border with India in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district on Wednesday, seeking to crossover claiming that they were under attack in their country, officials said.
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