JU students hold demo protesting attack on Agartala mission

Students of Jahangirnagar University brought out a torch procession protesting the attack on the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala yesterday (2 December).

The protest march began at 9:00pm circling the campus before concluding at the Battala area, where a brief rally was held.

At the rally, Shahadat Hossain, one of the organisers of the Jahangirnagar Sanskar Andolon, said, "Don't consider Bangladesh as a valued state of India. If you behave in a manner of showing dominance, the people of this country will give a befitting reply."

Addressing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's remark regarding the deployment of UN peacekeepers in Bangladesh, he said, "I want to tell her to establish peace in her own country. If necessary, we will send peacekeepers. Learn what harmony is from Bangladesh."

JU unit of Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir's General Secretary Muhibur Rahman Mujib said, "No aggressive power has been able to rule our country for long. We have given a befitting reply to the aggressive rulers. India was conspiring against us through dictator [former premier] Sheikh Hasina. But the students of this country have overthrown them. Bangladesh has always been a place of religious harmony. We cannot destroy our harmony by conspiring."

Abdur Rashid Jitu, a JU student, said attacking the High Commission of a country means attacking its sovereignty. "India must apologise for this heinous act."

Towhid Siam, coordinator of the JU branch of the Anti-discrimination Student Movement, said, "I urge the interim government to immediately dismiss and withdraw all those in the administration and media which house Indian-backed officials."

Earlier, Hasnat Abdullah, convener of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, called a protest programme at the Dhaka University premises.

The attack on the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission took place this noon as thousands of people took out a massive rally in the Tripura capital to protest the arrest of ISCKON leader Chinmoy Krishna Das.

Meanwhile, the government of Bangladesh said it deeply resents the "violent demonstration and attack" by a large group of protesters of the Hindu Sangharsh Samity of Agartala on the premises of the Assistant High Commission.

"The accounts received conclusively attest that the protesters were allowed to aggress into the premises, by breaking down the main gate of Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in a pre-planned manner. In the process, in the presence of the members of the local law enforcement agencies, they vandalised the flagpole, desecrated the national flag of Bangladesh and also damaged properties inside the Assistant High Commission," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

On the other hand, India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the breach of premises at the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala is "deeply regrettable".

Issuing a statement on this, the MEA said, "Diplomatic and consular properties should not be targeted under any circumstances."

"Government is taking action to step up security arrangements for the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi and their Deputy/Assistant High Commission in the country," it added.