(Photo credit: ANI)
Bangladesh’s interim government on Thursday announced that it has asked its key diplomatic missions in India, including the High Commission in New Delhi, to temporarily suspend visa services citing “security concerns”.”What I have done is that I have asked our three missions (in India) to keep their visa sections closed for the time being. It’s a security issue,” Foreign Affairs Adviser M Touhid Hossain told reporters at a media briefing.Hossain also said Dhaka has approached the United States seeking a reversal of a recently imposed visa bond requirement. Bangladesh will pursue diplomatic channels to seek an exemption, calling the move “certainly unfortunate and painful for us,” according to PTI.At the same time, he noted that the US decision was “not abnormal”, as it was not applied only to Bangladesh and several other countries were facing similar immigration-related measures.The remarks came after Bangladesh’s Deputy High Commission in Kolkata overnight restricted visa services, following similar steps taken earlier in New Delhi and Agartala. However, business and work visas have been kept outside the scope of the restrictions. Bangladesh also has diplomatic missions in Mumbai and Chennai, where visa services continue to operate normally.India had earlier imposed restrictions on visas for Bangladeshi nationals after August 5, 2024, citing security concerns.Ties between Dhaka and New Delhi have remained strained since the Awami League government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted following violent, student-led street protests in July–August 2024.
