Dhaka (TIP): Days after the Tarique Rahman-led government came to power in Bangladesh, India is preparing to resume all visa services in Bangladesh, a senior consular official said Thursday. Aniruddha Das, India’s senior consular official in Sylhet, said efforts were underway to fully restore all visa services, bdnews24 reported. “Medical and double-entry visas are being issued now, and steps are under way to resume other categories, including travel visas,” Das said at the Sylhet District Press Club. The Indian assistant high commissioner in Sylhet also assured of maximum cooperation to strengthen bilateral ties through the facilitation of visas, according to bdnews24. He said India-Bangladesh relations stand on the “foundation of mutual respect and honour.” “The people of both countries will be the principal stakeholders of a stable, positive, constructive, long-term and mutually beneficial relationship,” bdnews24 cited Das as saying. The official added that both countries “share the same outlook” and want to work together. Indian visa centres had suspended operations in Bangladesh as ties between the two countries deteriorated after the death of student leader Sharif Osman Hadi. The death of the student leader led to protests in Bangladesh, which took on anti- India overtones. Relations between both countries had soured initially after the ouster of former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India after protests in July, 2024. "Whenever the security situation turns bad, we are forced to shut down,” an official from the Indian visa centre told ANI news agency in December last year. Bangladesh had also, in January, restricted visa issuance for Indian nationals, extending the curbs to its missions in Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai. The restriction suspended all categories of visas except business and employment visas. The Bangladesh high commission in New Delhi had suspended visa services for an indefinite period on December 22 after protests near the mission. Bangladesh student leader wanted in Hindu cop's murder detained at Delhi airport A Bangladeshi student leader, accused in the 2024 murder of a Hindu police officer in his country, was detained at Delhi airport while allegedly attempting to flee to Europe, sources said. The accused, Ahmed Raza Hasan Mehdi, was later deported to Bangladesh after alleging physical abuse by police officials during detention. Mehdi is a student coordinator from Habiganj district in Bangladesh, where the victim, SI Santosh Chowdhury, was killed by a mob on August 5, 2024, the same day when then-Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted following anti-government protests. Mehdi was intercepted by immigration officials at the Delhi airport. According to sources, authorities detained him when he was trying to leave the country and subsequently deported him to Bangladesh. In a video shot from the airport, Mehdi claimed he was physically abused by one of the policemen and said he will narrate his ordeal after he returns to Bangladesh. "I was in police custody for 40 minutes. I was badly treated and the police wanted to put me in jail. I told them if I had done any illegal work, then I should be allowed to speak to the embassy. But they didn't cooperate,” he said.
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