Centre forms panel to oversee safety of Indians, minorities in Bangladesh

Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that the committee will be led by the Additional Director General (ADG) of the Border Security Force (BSF) for the Eastern Command

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said that the Centre has established a high-level committee to oversee the situation along the Indo-Bangladesh Border (IBB) in the wake of the ongoing unrest in the neighbouring country.

The committee will be led by the Additional Director General (ADG) of the Border Security Force (BSF) for the Eastern Command, Shah announced in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

He noted that the panel will be responsible for maintaining open lines of communication with Bangladeshi authorities and ensure the safety of Indian nationals, including Hindus and other minority communities residing in the country. 

 

In the wake of the ongoing situation in Bangladesh, the Modi government has constituted a committee to monitor the current situation on the Indo-Bangladesh Border (IBB). The committee will maintain communication channels with their counterpart authorities in Bangladesh to ensure…

— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) August 9, 2024

Violence-hit Bangladesh is reeling under a major political crisis, triggered in mid-July over a controversial quota system rule. The violence began on July 16, after clashes broke out between the protesting student activists at Dhaka University and supporters of the ruling Awami League Party. 

Since then, more than 500 people have been killed in different instances of violence, according to local media reports.

The protests, which had been partly controlled after the Bangladesh Supreme Court annulled most of the quota system on July 21, reignited over the weekend after demonstrators demanded a public apology from Hasina for the violence.

There have been at least 232 deaths since Monday alone, the day when Sheikh Hasina resigned as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh and fled to India over her safety concerns.

The scale of the protests in Dhaka was so massive that the demonstrators were able to break into the Prime Minister’s official residence, Gono Bhaban, in Dhaka on Monday, where they looted Hasina’s valuable possessions after she fled the country.

On Thursday evening, an interim government led by Nobel Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus was sworn in to take control of the country. The new government has 15 members on its advisory council, including two prominent faces of the student protests.

Watch: Stop attacks against Hindus, other minorities or I’ll resign: Bangladesh's Muhammad Yunus