Govt forms panel to monitor Bangladesh crisis; will ensure safety of Indians and minorities, says Amit Shah

Bangladesh protest: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said that the Indian government had constituted a committee to monitor the situation in the strife-torn country and along the India-Bangladesh border. The committee will be headed by the ADG, Border Security Force(BSF) and Eastern Command of the Indian Army.

The Committee will maintain communication channels with their counterpart authorities in Bangladesh to ensure the safety and security of Indian nationals, Hindus, and other minority communities living in the strife-torn country, Amit Shah said.

Apart from the BSF ADG, the four other members of the committee are the BSF's Inspector General of Police (IGP) for the South Bengal frontier, the IGP for the Tripura frontier, member (planning and development) of the Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI), and secretary of the LPAI.

The developments come after reports of attacks on minorities in Bangladesh emerged. Several reports mentioned that the ISKON temple was attacked, while several other Hindu temples were burnt. Many reports also stated that Bangladesh cricketer Liton Das' residence was burnt.

However, the news of Liton Das' house being attacked was later clarified as a false claim.

Many other images of Muslims standing guard in front of temples quickly went viral on social media platforms.

(Mint could not independently verify any report regarding attacks on minorities and Hindus in Bangladesh)

Meanwhile, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus arrived in Dhaka on Thursday to take over the seat of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, meeting a central demand of the massive student-led protest movement.

According to Bloomberg, public services in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, are still mostly suspended. Courts aren’t functioning smoothly. Over the past few weeks, the nation has lost over a billion dollars in foreign currency reserves.

Bangladesh’s main opposition party has called for elections within 90 days, the period mandated in the constitution when Parliament is dissolved, but Yunus has yet to address that time frame.

Bangladesh witnessed deadly unrest in recent weeks. More than 500 people, including police personnel, were killed in the anti-government demonstrations that started with an anti-reservation protest led by students.