Agartala, Dec 22 (IANS) The Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala on Monday notified that all visa and consular services at the diplomatic mission will remain closed from December 23, officials said.
This is to inform all concerned that, due to unavoidable circumstances, all visa and consular services at the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala will remain closed from tomorrow, 23 December 2025, until further notice.
The First Secretary and Head of Commission of the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala, S. M. Almas Hossain, in a notification said, “This is to inform all concerned that, due to unavoidable circumstances, all visa and consular services at the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala will remain closed from tomorrow, December 23, 2025, until further notice.”
Meanwhile, a senior Tripura police official said that since August last year, the security in and around the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala has been further increased.
“Huge contingent of CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) and Tripura State Rifles (the state’s elite para-military type security force) has been deployed to provide security to the officials and the diplomatic mission,” the official said.
Many organisations and political parties in Tripura condemned the alleged lynching of a Hindu man in the neighbouring country and accused the interim government in Bangladesh of failing to curb atrocities against religious minorities.
Activists of the Sanatani Hindu Sena and the youth wing of the Tipra Motha Party (TMP), an ally of the BJP government in Tripura, last week held separate protest demonstrations in front of the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission (AHC) in Agartala, condemning recent remarks by leaders of the neighbouring country allegedly claiming India’s Northeast region.
Youth Tipra Federation (YTF) President Suraj Debbarma, who led the protests on December 19, said that National Citizen Party (NCP) leader Hasnat Abdullah, Muhammad Yunus, the Chief Adviser of Bangladesh’s interim government and other leaders of that country have been continuously making baseless and manufactured “anti-India” comments and encouraging activities hostile to India.
Debbarma said that over the past few days, protests and demonstrations have been held in front of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka and at other places in Bangladesh, where participants allegedly raised “anti-India” slogans.
“NCP leader Hasnat Abdullah earlier this week reportedly claimed that they would capture India’s ‘Seven Sisters’ and the Siliguri Corridor and make the region part of their country,” he added.
The Siliguri Corridor, often referred to as the ‘Chicken’s Neck’, connects Northeast India with the rest of the country through West Bengal. The seven Northeastern states — Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura — are collectively known as the ‘Seven Sisters’.
Debbarma said that some Bangladeshi leaders have forgotten India’s contribution and the sacrifices made by the Indian Army during the 1971 Liberation War that led to the creation of Bangladesh as a sovereign nation.
“When India extended tremendous support during the 1971 war and in the years that followed, why are Bangladeshi leaders now portraying India as an enemy?” he asked.
He also warned that if Bangladeshi leaders continued making what he described as “futile claims” over India’s Northeast, TMP supporters could also raise historical issues, including claims over areas such as Cox’s Bazar, while saying that a large number of minorities continue to live in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Southeastern Bangladesh.
“Everyone knows that TMP has been agitating for ‘Greater Tipraland’, and everyone is also aware of how Bangladesh has benefited from India over the past five decades,” Debbarma said, adding that the party would not remain silent if “anti-India” activities and false claims regarding the Northeast continued.
Meanwhile, another senior TMP leader said that the erstwhile ‘Chakla Roshnabad’, was a zamindari of the former princely state of Tripura, once covering plain areas of the then East Pakistan, now parts of Bangladesh’s Noakhali and Sylhet districts.
NCP leader Hasnat Abdullah last week reportedly warned of isolating the Northeast’s ‘Seven Sisters’ and offering shelter to separatist groups if India tried to destabilise Bangladesh.
Security concerns have also affected Indian diplomatic operations in Bangladesh. Following a violent incident outside the Indian Assistant High Commission in Chittagong, Indian visa services at the Indian Visa Application Centre (IVAC) in the port city have been suspended from Sunday until further notice.
Officials said visa services would resume only after a review of the security situation. The decision followed clashes outside the mission on Friday, which left at least four people injured, including two police personnel.
According to local media, the unrest erupted after the death of Sharif Osman Hadi, spokesperson of the radical group Inqilab Mancha, with protesters allegedly vandalising parts of the Indian mission premises.
After the death of Hadi, fresh violence erupted in many parts of Bangladesh, including the capital, Dhaka. Hadi, a key figure in last year’s uprising against the then former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government, was shot by masked gunmen while leaving a mosque in the capital, Dhaka, last week.
He was initially wounded and flown to Singapore for treatment, but eventually succumbed to his wounds on December 18. The unfolding developments have raised serious concerns over safety, communal harmony, and regional stability.
Bangladesh has witnessed escalating violence against minorities, including Hindus under the Yunus-led interim government, sparking outrage among people and several human rights organisations across the globe.
Earlier, on December 17, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) summoned Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Riaz Hamidullah to convey New Delhi’s strong concerns over the deteriorating security situation in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has witnessed a sharp rise in violence and a worsening law-and-order situation under the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government.
–IANS
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