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24-01-2026
Bureau Report
NEW DELHI: India will withdraw its diplomats’ families and dependents from Bangladesh in the face of security threats as tension rises ahead of a February 12 general election, an Indian official said on Wednesday.
Campaigning begins on Thursday for Bangladesh’s election, which has sparked protests and counter-protests. Ties between the South Asian neighbors soured after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India in 2024, following deadly protests. India’s withdrawal move was part of “internal readjustments”, the official said, without elaborating. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, pointed to Indian media reports of New Delhi’s decision.
It was not immediately clear when the families would return.
The foreign ministries of India and Bangladesh did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In December, India summoned Bangladesh’s high commissioner, or ambassador to voice its concern over what it called a deteriorating security situation there, particularly threats targeting the Indian mission in the capital, Dhaka.
The interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has repeatedly sought Hasina’s extradition to Bangladesh, while rejecting New Delhi’s concerns over violence targeting members of the minority Hindu community.
In November, India was examining a request from Bangladesh for the extradition of the country’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the Indian foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The request, first made in December and reiterated this month after Hasina was sentenced to death for her role in the killing of student protesters last year was being examined in India as part of ongoing internal judicial and legal processes, he said.
Hasina fled to India in August 2024 at the height of the protests.
However, Hundreds of people protested near Bangladesh’s High Commission in New Delhi on Tuesday against the lynching of a Hindu man over allegations of blasphemy that has exacerbated tensions between Hindu-majority India and its Muslim-majority neighbor.
Factory worker Dipu Chandra Das, 27, was beaten and set on fire in Bangladesh’s Mymensingh district last week by a crowd that accused him of making derogatory remarks about the Prophet. At least 10 people have been arrested in connection with his death. The lynching has worsened relations between India and its neighbor weeks before Bangladesh holds a parliamentary election and both countries have suspended visa services. Ties have been strained since Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to New Delhi following deadly protests against her last year. Tuesday’s demonstration, called by Hindu groups, involved people clashing with police personnel as they tried to push through barricades set up near the High Commission, television footage showed.
They also chanted slogans and burnt pictures of Yunus, with some holding posters demanding “boycott Bangladesh”.
“We needed to raise the voice of Hindus in Bangladesh in Delhi and we have done that … as long as even one Hindu is being harmed there, we will be awake and will not stop,” a protester told broadcaster India Today.
Demonstrations were also held in other parts of the country, including Jammu and Kashmir territory.
Bangladesh said it summoned the Indian envoy on Tuesday to express concern over a similar protest near its mission in New Delhi on Saturday and “violent protests” outside other diplomatic missions, urging India to investigate the incidents.
