New Delhi:

Non-essential staff and their families at the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka are returning to India via commercial flights, sources said today. They are returning voluntarily, sources said.

All diplomats including the High Commissioner have stayed back and are working from the mission, sources said.

After resigning, former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina came to India on Monday, and President Mohammed Shahabuddin dissolved parliament a day later. He appointed Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus as the head of an interim government.

The decision was made in a meeting that Mr Shahabuddin had with chiefs of the three services and a 13-member delegation of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement at Bangabhaban (the presidential palace).

The other members of the interim government will be finalised after talks with political parties.

The last time any Indian mission abroad had to leave for safety was in August 2021 after US troops pulled out from Afghanistan. Two Indian Air Force C-17 transport aircraft flew into Kabul on August 15 to evacuate Indian embassy personnel, including Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel who defend the mission.

Over 120 people including Ambassador Rudrendra Tandon had boarded one of the two C-17s and safely landed in Gujarat’s Jamnagar.