Non-Essential Staff of Indian High Commission in Dhaka to Return to India

New Delhi:

Non-essential personnel and their families at the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka are heading back to India via commercial flights, sources indicated today. They are returning voluntarily, according to sources.

All envoys including the High Commissioner have chosen to remain and are operating from the mission, sources revealed.

Following her resignation, former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited India on Monday, and President Mohammed Shahabuddin dissolved parliament a day later. He designated Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus as the leader of an interim administration.

The decision was reached during a meeting that Mr Shahabuddin had with leaders of the three armed forces and a 13-member delegation of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement at Bangabhaban (the presidential palace).

The remaining members of the interim administration will be decided after discussions with political factions.

The most recent instance of an Indian mission abroad being evacuated for safety occurred in August 2021 after US troops withdrew from Afghanistan. Two Indian Air Force C-17 transport planes arrived in Kabul on August 15 to evacuate Indian embassy personnel, including Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel who protect the mission.

More than 120 individuals, including Ambassador Rudrendra Tandon, boarded one of the two C-17s and safely landed in Gujarat’s Jamnagar.