Bangladesh summoned India’s top envoy as protests erupted in New Delhi over a Hindu worker’s lynching, straining ties between the neighbours.
DHAKA: Bangladesh summoned India’s top envoy on Tuesday as fresh protests erupted outside its high commission in New Delhi.
The demonstrations were over the mob lynching of a Hindu garment worker in Dhaka on December 18.
The worker was accused of blasphemy, and seven suspects have been arrested over the killing.
Hundreds of demonstrators converged near Bangladesh’s High Commission in New Delhi, waving saffron flags and banners.
One banner read: “Stop Killing Hindus in Bangladesh”.
“Hindus are warning Bangladesh that it is taking the wrong approach,” said Puneet Gautam, a protester and member of the right-wing Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) organisation.
VHP members and security personnel clashed outside Dhaka’s outpost as the crowd shoved its way through yellow metal barricades.
Earlier on Tuesday, Bangladesh’s foreign ministry had summoned Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma to express “grave concern” over previous protests outside its visa centres.
The ministry cited “regrettable incidents” and vandalism outside its visa centres in New Delhi and Siliguri last week.
India has dismissed reports of vandalism as “misleading propaganda”.
Ties between the neighbours have deteriorated since ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled a pro-democracy uprising last year and sought refuge in India.
India says it is still considering Dhaka’s requests to extradite Hasina, who was sentenced to death in absentia for orchestrating a deadly crackdown on the uprising.
Bangladesh has been in political turmoil since the end of Hasina’s rule, with violence marring campaigning ahead of next year’s election.
This month, parliamentary hopeful and vocal India critic Sharif Osman Hadi was shot by masked assailants in Dhaka.
Unconfirmed reports suggest his attackers might have fled to India.
The killing set off protests in Dhaka with arsonists torching several buildings, including two major newspapers deemed to favour India.
Mobs also pelted stones at the Indian High Commission in the port city of Chattogram, where India has since suspended visa services.
On Monday, Dhaka temporarily suspended visa services in Delhi.
Russia has urged Delhi and Dhaka to mend fences.
“The sooner this happens, the better,” Russian Ambassador to Bangladesh, Alexander G. Khozin, was quoted as saying.
