The Indian foreign minister said that India, which shares a long land border with Bangladesh, has put its border forces on high alert following the collapse of Sheikh Hasina’s government.
He also confirmed that the former prime minister is in the Indian capital after she fled the country Monday, following weeks of widespread protests led by students.
“At very short notice, she [Hasina] requested approval to come for the moment to India. We simultaneously received a request for flight clearance from the Bangladesh authorities. She arrived yesterday evening in Delhi,” Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told parliament on Tuesday.
Hasina was one of India’s closest allies in South Asia, and the dramatic fall of her government in Bangladesh presents a challenge for New Delhi, which had built strong ties with Dhaka during her 15 years in office.
She stepped down after scores of people were killed during a violent crackdown on a student-led uprising that erupted last month.
Jaishankar said that India is in touch with the army in Bangladesh, which took control after Hasina’s resignation.
“Our border-guarding forces have also been instructed to be exceptionally alert in view of this complex situation in the last 24 hours. We will naturally remain deeply concerned till law and order is visibly restored,” Jaishankar said.
India shares a largely porous border of more than 4,000 kilometers (almost 2,500 miles) with Bangladesh along several of its eastern and northeastern states, where insurgent groups used to be active. During Hasina’s tenure, however, the border had been relatively calm because those groups had not been allowed to take sanctuary in Bangladesh.
The Indian minister also expressed concern about the status of minority communities in Bangladesh, a mostly Muslim country. “What was particularly worrying was that minorities, their business and temples also came under attack at multiple locations. The full extent of this is still not clear,” Jaishankar said.
European Union diplomats in Bangladesh have echoed similar concerns. EU heads of mission “are very concerned about incoming reports of multiple attacks against places of worship and members of religious, ethnic and other minorities in Bangladesh,” EU Ambassador to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley posted on social media platform X.
Bangladesh’s president dissolved parliament Tuesday, paving the way for the formation of an interim government. Student groups that led the uprising against Hasina have said they want Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel laureate and a pioneer of microfinance, to help lead the interim government.
Yunus, who is currently in Paris, has called Hasina’s resignation the country’s “second liberation day.”
In an interview with Indian broadcaster NDTV Tuesday, Yunus said the country had “got rid of a very authoritarian government.” He said, “The ultimate goal for stability is to bring democracy, which was completely denied in Bangladesh.”
Yunus also said that restoration of law and order was the biggest priority facing Bangladesh. “If that cannot be achieved, there will be a spillover effect in neighboring countries,” including India and Myanmar, he said.
