Bangladesh summons Indian envoy as protest erupts in New Delhi

DHAKA (AFP): Bangladesh on Tuesday summoned the top Indian envoy as fresh protests erupted outside its high commission in New Delhi over the mob lynching of a Hindu worker in Dhaka.

The garment worker was accused of blasphemy and lynched on December 18 as anti-India sentiment rises in the neighbouring majority Muslim nation. Seven suspects have been arrested over the killing.

On Tuesday, hundreds of demonstrators converged near Bangladesh’s High Commission in New Delhi waving saffron flags and banners, including one that read: “Stop Killing Hindus in Bangladesh”.

“Hindus are warning Bangladesh that it is taking the wrong approach,” said Puneet Gautam, 37, a protester and member of the right-wing Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) organisation.

VHP members and security personnel clashed outside Dhaka’s outpost as the crowd shoved its way through yellow metal barricades around 300 metres from the building.

Earlier on Tuesday, Bangladesh’s foreign ministry had summoned Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma to express “grave concern” over previous protests outside its visa centres.

In its statement, the ministry cited “regrettable incidents” and vandalism outside its visa centres in New Delhi and Siliguri last week. India has dismissed reports of vandalism as “misleading propaganda”.

Ties between the neighbours have deteriorated since ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled the pro-democracy uprising last year and sought refuge in India.

India says it is still considering Dhaka’s requests to extradite Hasina, who was sentenced to death in absentia for orchestrating a deadly crackdown on the uprising.

Bangladesh has been in political turmoil since the end of Hasina’s rule, with violence marring the campaigning ahead of next year’s election.

This month, parliamentary hopeful and vocal India critic Sharif Osman Hadi was shot by masked assailants in Dhaka, with unconfirmed reports suggesting his attackers might have fled to India.

The killing set off protests in Dhaka with arsonists torching several buildings, including two major newspapers deemed to favour India as well as a prominent cultural institution.

Mobs also pelted stones at the Indian High Commission in the port city of Chattogram, where India has since suspended visa services.

On Monday, Dhaka temporarily suspended visa services in Delhi.

Russia has urged Delhi and Dhaka to mend fences.

“The sooner this happens, the better,” Russian Ambassador to Bangladesh, Alexander G. Khozin, was quoted as saying in the Dhaka Tribune.