Security tightened at Indian Assistant High Commission Office, visa centre in Bangladesh amid protests

Dhaka: Security has been strengthened at the Indian Assistant High Commission office and the visa application centre in Bangladesh's Sylhet city in the wake of heightened tensions following the death of prominent youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi, officials said.

The enhanced security measures were put in place to ensure that "no third party can exploit the situation", Additional Deputy Commissioner (Media) of the Sylhet Metropolitan Police Saiful Islam was quoted as saying by The Dhaka Tribune newspaper on Saturday.

According to police, security was reinforced from Friday morning at the Assistant High Commission office located in Upashahar area, the residence of the Assistant High Commissioner in the same locality, and the visa application centre in the Shobhanighat area.

Members of the security forces also remained deployed throughout the night.

Following the death of Inqilab Mancha spokesperson Hadi on Thursday, Gano Odhikar Parishad had announced a programme to besiege the Assistant High Commission office.

"Inqilab Mancha had staged a sit-in in front of the Sylhet Central Shaheed Minar, protesting Hadi’s killing and raising slogans against what they described as Indian dominance," the report said.

Hadi, a prominent leader of the student-led protests last year that led to the ouster of the prime minister Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government, was a candidate for the scheduled February 12 general elections.

He was shot in the head on December 12 by masked gunmen at an election campaign in central Dhaka’s Bijoynagar area. He died while undergoing treatment in Singapore on Thursday.

His death triggered attacks and vandalism across Bangladesh, including stone-hurling at the Assistant Indian High Commissioner's residence in Chattogram on Thursday.

Hadi, 32, was laid to rest on Saturday amid extra-tight security beside the grave of National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam near the Dhaka University mosque.

Tens of thousands of people attended the funeral prayers, and ahead of the ritual, they chanted anti-India slogans like “Delhi or Dhaka - Dhaka, Dhaka” and “brother Hadi’s blood will not be allowed to go in vain”.

Just after the funeral, Hadi's party Inqilab Mancha issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the interim government, demanding "visible progress" in the arrest of those responsible for his killing.