Indian students, who study in Bangladesh, in a bus upon their arrival at Akhaura check post of the India-Bangladesh border in Tripura on Saturday, following protests against government job quotas in Bangladesh.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Since the beginning of the clashes between students and security forces in Bangladesh, India has evacuated 978 nationals who were studying in various institutions in Bangladesh, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said.
The evacuation is part of security measures that the Indian officials in the High Commission in Dhaka and in the Assistant High Commissions are taking to ensure the safety of around 8,000 Indian students.
An MEA press note has informed that Indian officials are also assisting students from Nepal and Bhutan to leave Bangladesh as educational institutions have shut indefinitely in view of the ongoing clashes that have left at least 105 protesters dead.
Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted on X that around 800 Nepali students have been evacuated from Bangladesh by air or via land border posts.
Coordinating with airlines
Indian officials are coordinating with airline companies and the law enforcement officials in the violence-hit country to evacuate Indian nationals from Dhaka and Chittagoing airports. “Security escorts have also been arranged, where necessary, for their travel by road during repatriation through select land ports,” the MEA said in the press note. Officials said more students were crossing through land ports on Saturday evening.
Bangladesh continued to remain cut off from the world as the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina blocked mobile internet as part of the crackdown against student protesters. Along with the internet facilities, major news outlets of the country like Daily Star and Dhaka Tribune have also continued to remain inaccessible.
The U.S. State Department has announced that the “situation is extremely volatile and unpredictable” adding that the “US Embassy Dhaka continues to offer only limited services at this time”.
“All but emergency consular services are cancelled until further notice. Mission personnel have been advised to shelter in place until further notice,” declared the US State Department in a Facebook post.
With the blocking of mobile internet and broadband services, freedom of expression has also come under a shadow prompting several international figures to comment on the deteriorated law and order situation in Bangladesh. Former US ambassador to Bangladesh William B. Milam has called upon the U.S. government and the international community “to make clear to the Bangladesh Government that it will be held accountable for its actions.”
Two journalists killed, several others injured
The violence between the protesters and the security forces continued on Saturday that left at least 30 journalists with serious injuries and at two journalists dead, said editor of Bhorer Kagoj Shyamal Datta to The Hindu while speaking over telephone. “The protest by the students has been taken over by the political opponents of the government and has turned into a war-like situation. We are expecting that the case on the quota system will come up in the Supreme Court on Sunday when a step towards dialogue will be taken,” said Mr. Datta.
Among many incidents that have taken place over the past few days, it is the attack on a prison in Narsingdi in the country that was most alarming, said Mr. Datta, while adding that hundreds of inmates escaped from the prison that included some hardened extremists.
The anti-quota movement has broadened with the support from civil society movements and NGOs like BRAC that have been providing relief to the students who came under attack from the police forces. Asif Saleh, Executive Director of BRAC, had expressed sympathy with the protesters cautioning about trust deficit for Ms. Hasina’s government saying: “In these uncertain times, empathy and fellow feeling and direct dialogue was necessary, instead the students got sticks and kicks.”
