Bangladesh High Commission halts visas amid rising security concerns
Tensions flared as protesters shouted slogans outside Bangladesh mission in Delhi, prompting sharp diplomatic exchanges between India and Bangladesh
The Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi has suspended visa services, citing a “prevailing security situation,” marking a new low point in already strained ties between India and Bangladesh. The decision, confirmed by a diplomatic source on Monday, follows a series of incidents and retaliatory measures that have disrupted people-to-people contact between the two neighbours over recent months.
The immediate trigger appears to be rising tensions after India shut down its visa application centres in Bangladesh, which were targeted by mobs in the wake of the killing of radical leader Sharif Osman Hadi. Hadi was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on December 12, setting off unrest in parts of Bangladesh and fuelling rumours that those responsible had fled across the border into India.
Over the weekend, the strain spilled onto the streets of New Delhi. A group of men gathered outside the main gate of the Bangladesh High Commission, shouting slogans and allegedly hurling threats at diplomats inside the mission. While no physical harm was reported, the incident was serious enough to raise alarm in Dhaka and prompt strong reactions on both sides.
Bangladesh media reports on the incident drew a sharp response from India’s External Affairs Ministry, which dismissed the coverage as “misleading propaganda.” Dhaka, however, described what happened outside its High Commission as an “unjustifiable incident,” underscoring the differing narratives that have increasingly defined bilateral exchanges.
This is the first time Bangladesh has suspended visa services from its High Commission in New Delhi since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5, 2024. In the 15 months since then, visa issuance between the two countries has been repeatedly disrupted, but never to this extent on the Bangladeshi side.
India, for its part, first suspended visa services in Dhaka during July and August 2024, when the anti-Hasina uprising was at its peak. Though services were paused several times afterward, Indian officials say New Delhi had gradually restored operations, issuing around 2,000 visas daily for Bangladeshi nationals by November 2025. That fragile normalcy was undone after recent mob attacks targeted Indian Visa Application Centres in Khulna and Chittagong, as well as the Assistant High Commission in Rajshahi.
Those attacks followed Hadi’s death and were fueled by speculation that the suspects had escaped to India. In response, India announced an indefinite suspension of operations at several of its visa centres in Bangladesh, citing the safety of staff and facilities.
The ripple effects have been felt beyond the capital. came a day after a demonstration outside the mission, where local political leaders called for its closure.
Agartala has been a flashpoint before. In the first week of December 2024, protesters stormed the mission during a period when relations between the two countries had sharply deteriorated in the early days of the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus.
Diplomatic sources on both sides acknowledge that the suspension of visas is hurting ordinary citizens the most—students, patients, families, and traders who depend on relatively easy cross-border movement. While officials continue to exchange statements, the closures reflect a deeper trust deficit that has yet to be bridged.
For now, visas have become another casualty of politics and street-level unrest, leaving thousands waiting and watching as two close neighbours struggle to steady an increasingly fragile relationship.