India has evacuated all non-essential staff and their families from its embassy and consulates in Bangladesh, sources have confirmed. The move comes after massive protests over job quotas forced Sheikh Hasina to quit as Bangladesh’s prime minister and flee. 

The High Commission continues to operate with a skeletal staff, while those who returned to India did so on a voluntary basis, sources said.

Despite the turmoil, principal officers, including the High Commissioner of India to Dhaka, remain at their posts. 

According to sources, the evacuation occurred via commercial flights and the High Commission remains functional, with dedicated personnel maintaining essential operations amid unrest in the region. In addition to the High Commission in the capital, India has assistant high commissions or consulates in several other cities, including Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna and Sylhet.

The protests against the country’s quota system for families of freedom fighters slowly turned anti-government, with demonstrators demanding Sheikh Hasina resign as Bangladesh’s Prime Minister. Nearly 300 people were killed after authorities used force to disperse the crowd and quell the protests that spread across the country. 

Sheikh Hasina, who had been in power since 2009, resigned and fled the country after protestors stormed the Prime Minister’s residence on Monday.

Hasina’s plane landed at an airbase near Delhi on Monday evening. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met with the former prime minister, who is expected to leave for the UK, where she may seek political asylum.

Bangladesh’s army chief, General Waker-Uz-Zaman, announced Hasina’s resignation in a broadcast on state television, stating that the military would form an interim government. The Bangladesh military has taken over the responsibility of guarding Dhaka’s diplomatic neighbourhood, previously overseen by police. They are now responsible for securing the residences of ambassadors and foreign missions in the Gulshan and Baridhara zones.

Earlier on Wednesday, a special Air India flight, operated with an A321 Neo aircraft, took off from Delhi without any passengers and returned with 199 adults and six infants from Dhaka. 

Air India will commence its scheduled operations to Dhaka, with two daily flights from Delhi. Other airlines, including Vistara and IndiGo, will also operate their services to Dhaka as per schedule. 

The Indian government has not issued any official statement on the evacuation.

Bhubaneswar:

A group of 35 labourers from Odisha alleged that they were held captive by a company in Laos for which they were working. Urging the government to bring them back, the labourers in a video clip said the plywood company stopped its operations about one-and-a-half-months ago, but they were neither allowed to return nor paid wages.

The workers from Rajkanika block of Kendrapara district alleged that the company had also forcibly taken away their passports. After it was brought to the notice of the state government, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik directed officers concerned to make arrangements for bringing them back home.

Following this, the state labour commissioner took up the issue with the Indian embassy in Laos, a CMO official said.

The embassy informed the Odisha government that all steps will be taken for the safe return of the workers to India, he said.

The labourers had sent the video clip to the people in their village, who contacted the local MLA. The legislator in turn brought it to the notice of the state government.

“We have no money or food to eat. We are also not allowed to return,” said Saroj Palai, one of the labourers held captive in the Southeast Asian country.