Bangladesh suspends visa services in New Delhi, Tripura

New Delhi, Dec 22 (PTI) Bangladesh has suspended visa services in its high commission in New Delhi and its mission in Tripura amid mounting strain in ties between the two countries.

The decision to suspend the visa services was taken after groups of protesters held demonstrations outside the two missions, people familiar with the matter said.

The Bangladesh high commission in New Delhi put out a public notice mentioning suspension of visa services in view of unavoidable circumstances.

The assistant high commission of Bangladesh in Tripura also made a similar announcement on the suspension of visa services after protests were held outside the mission on Sunday.

It is learnt that a private operator tasked by Dhaka to process visa applications in West Bengal's Siliguri has also suspended its services.

Bangladesh has witnessed a fresh wave of unrest following the death of student leader Sharif Osman Hadi last week. Hadi was a prominent face in the anti-government protests that forced the collapse of the Sheikh Hasina government.

Some of the protesters last week also trained their anger against India.

Amid the fresh protests, a Hindu man, Dipu Chandra Das, was killed in Bangladesh's Mymensingh.

On Thursday, a group of angry protesters tried to storm India's assistant high commission in Chittagong. India subsequently suspended its visa services in the mission.

India on Wednesday summoned Bangladesh envoy Riaz Hamidullah and conveyed its strong concern over certain extremist elements announcing plans to create a security situation around the Indian mission in Dhaka.

India's action followed after certain extremist elements announced plans to hold protests around the Indian high commission in Dhaka.

In a statement, the MEA said that India "completely rejects the false narrative" sought to be created by extremist elements regarding certain recent events in Bangladesh.

"It is unfortunate that the interim government has neither conducted a thorough investigation nor shared meaningful evidence with India regarding the incidents," it said shortly after summoning Hamidullah. PTI MPB KVK KVK