Bangladesh recalls envoy from India amid strained ties

Bangladesh's interim government has recalled five envoys, including its high commissioner in New Delhi, as it carried out a second phase of reshuffle in the diplomatic service alongside the domestic administration, an official said on Thursday.

The interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus as the Chief Adviser has asked Bangladesh's envoys in India, Brussels, Canberra, Lisbon, and the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York to return immediately and report to the foreign ministry here as part of the latest reshuffle.

"The recalling of the envoys is part of a government decision under which our High Commissioner to India, Mustafizur Rahman, has been asked to return to the foreign ministry in Dhaka," an official said on Thursday, preferring anonymity.

Bangladesh High Commissioner in London Sadia Muna Tasneem was asked to return to Dhaka four days ago.

The foreign service witnessed a major change in late August, weeks after the ouster of the then prime minister Sheikh Hasina's regime on August 5 after a massive student-led mass upheaval. The upsurge installed the Nobel Laureate's interim administration on August 8.

Dhaka, at that time, ordered its ambassadors to the United States, Russia, Germany, Japan, the United Arab Emirates & Saudi Arabia and the High Commissioner to the Maldives to return home.

Several of these ambassadors were former diplomats or retired and serving civil and military officials appointed abroad by the deposed government.

The foreign ministry is yet to make any fresh appointments in these countries.

Meanwhile, after assuming the charge, the interim government carried out a major change in the domestic administration scrapping contractual appointments of several senior officials or top bureaucrats while several police officers, including the chief of the main law enforcement agency, were sacked.

They were accused of killing students and ordinary people during the anti-government protests in July and early August which originated from the demand for a change in the quota system in government jobs.

Sacked senior secretary of the home ministry Jahangir Alam and sacked police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun both were arrested and remanded to police custody for interrogation for their actions during the deadly protests as part of the students' movement, which claimed nearly 1,000 lives.