Dhaka strongly condemns attack on Agartala mission; Delhi regrets ‘security breach’

A large group of protesters of the Hindu Sangharsh Samity attacked the Assistant High Commission of Bangladesh in Agartala yesterday afternoon.
About 200 metres away from the mission office, a rally was held at the Circuit House under the banner of Hindu Sangharsh Samity, an affiliate of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, to protest the recent arrest of former ISKCON leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari in Dhaka, reports several media outlets.
BBC Bangla reported that a group of people of about 150 entered the mission, pulled down the Bangladesh flag, tore it up, and broke a few items when a delegation of the samity went inside the compound to submit a memorandum.
Bangladesh foreign ministry said, “The accounts received conclusively attest that the protesters were allowed to aggress into the premises, by breaking down the main gate of Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in a pre-planned manner.”
In presence of the members of the local law enforcement agencies, they vandalised the flag pole, desecrated the national flag of Bangladesh, and also damaged properties inside the compound, it said.
Regrettably, the local police personnel in charge of protecting the premises were found not to be active in containing the situation from the beginning. All members of the mission are left with a deep sense of insecurity, the ministry said in a press statement issued yesterday evening.
Following Chinmoy’s arrest, protests were held in Maharashtra, Tripura, and West Bengal, including in front of Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata.
After yesterday’s attack, a wave of protest swept across Bangladesh. 
The attack was made at a time when the relation between Bangladesh and India remains strained following the fall of the Awami League regime on August 5 and Sheikh Hasina fleeing and taking refuge in that country.
Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain yesterday accused a section of Indian media of running a campaign against Bangladesh over minority issues.
He said Chinmoy was arrested on specific charges, and it has nothing to do with his faith. The government will not tolerate any attempt to harm the communal harmony, he said.
The foreign ministry statement said the government deeply resents the violent demonstration and attack on the Agartala office and that it was similar to a demonstration in Kolkata on November 28.
“This particular act in Agartala stands in violation of the inviolability of diplomatic missions, as the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961, asks for,” it said.
As it is the responsibility of the host government to protect the diplomatic missions from any form of intrusion or damage, the Bangladesh government called upon India to take immediate action.
The foreign ministry asked Delhi to launch a thorough probe into the incident and to prevent any further acts of violence against the diplomatic missions of Bangladesh in India. It also asked for ensuring the safety and security of the diplomats and the non-diplomatic staffers and their family members.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs, in a statement regretted the incident at the Bangladesh mission in Agartala.
“Diplomatic and consular properties should not be targeted under any circumstances,” it said.
It said 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.
PROTESTS

The Jatiya Nagorik Committee yesterday condemned the attack on the Bangladesh mission office in Agartala.
“The Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala is a state institution. Any attack on such a location is tantamount to an attack on Bangladesh’s sovereignty,” Nasiruddin Patwary, convener of the committee, told a press briefing.
Leaders and activists of various student organisations also demonstrated condemning the attack on the office.
Students, including those from the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement and Bangladesh Chhatra Odhikar Parishad, demonstrated near the Raju Memorial Sculpture at Dhaka University yesterday evening.
At a rally there, they criticised India for “focusing on ties with the Awami League rather than the Bangladeshi people” and staying silent when people were being killing in Bangladesh during the uprising.
The speakers accused the Indian media of exaggerating attacks on minorities.
Joy Pal, a residential student of Jagannath Hall, said, “Forget differences of religion, caste, race, and tribe; we are all Bangladeshis, and that is our only identity. When it comes to the sovereignty of the country, we all stand united.”
The protest concluded with a procession on campus.
At Jahangirnagar University, students under a joint banner of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, Mass Uprising Protection Movement, Jahangirnagar Reform Movement, Anti-Hegemony Forum, and Revolutionary Cultural Forum took out a torch procession on the campus around 9:00pm to protest the attack on the Bangladesh mission office in Agartala.
Speakers at a rally at the end of the procession said the attack was an assault on Bangladesh’s sovereignty and demanded an apology from the Indian prime minister.
Following the protests, police in Dhaka beefed up security measures for the Indian High Commission.
In Chattogram, the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement held a protest rally at which speakers accused India of attempting to subdue Bangladesh. They demanded an explanation from the Indian High Commission.
The organisation held a rally yesterday evening and took out a procession around 8:00pm from the Chowhatta Point in Sylhet.
Meanwhile, in a Facebook post, Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Shafiqur Rahman said India failed to protect diplomatic missions on its own land. It has no right to talk about communal harmony in Bangladesh.
“The people of Bangladesh do not like anyone trying to dominate them. We urge the people of Bangladesh to remain vigilant. National unity is its effective medicine,” he added.
In West Bengal, opposition and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari yesterday threatened to impose an “indefinite export embargo” on Bangladesh, reports The Economic Times.
“We will see how the people there live without our potatoes and onions,” he was quoted as saying.