Over 6,700 Indian Students Return From Bangladesh With Government Cooperation: MEA

More than 6,700 Indian students have returned from Bangladesh with excellent cooperation from the Sheikh Hasina government, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Thursday.

The Indian High Commission arranged safe and secure travel for the students to border crossings or airports, he said in a weekly media briefing. Jaiswal expressed hope that Bangladesh will return to normalcy soon.

On being asked about the number of students returning, Jaiswal said, “So far, we have had more than 6,700 Indian students who have come back from Bangladesh. We have taken excellent cooperation from the Bangladeshi government. Our High Commission has arranged for their safe and secure travel to the border crossing points or to the airport, as the case may be. They also have several helplines.”

“Both our High Commission and Assistant High Commissions are operating 24/7 helplines. All the people who are there, our students and nationals, can reach out to them, and they have been rendering whatever assistance has been requested. We are hopeful that the situation in the country will return to normal soon,” he added.

He said India was monitoring the situation in Bangladesh and considered it an internal matter of that country.

He commented, “We are aware of the situation in the country. We have been following the developments in that country. India considers the ongoing situation in the country to be the internal matter of Bangladesh. With the support and cooperation of the Bangladesh government, we were able to arrange for the safe return of our students, which we deeply appreciate. We share warm and friendly ties with Bangladesh and are hopeful that the situation will return to normal soon.”

The protests in Bangladesh came because of demands to revise the quota system for civil service jobs that reserve positions for various groups, including descendants of veterans who fought in the 1971 independence war with Pakistan. Anger had been building up due to students rallying against a new policy giving government jobs to the relatives of freedom fighters; violence ensued, along with attacks at state television headquarters and police booths located in Dhaka. This saw the government enforce a curfew, shut schools, and suspend mobile and internet services nationwide.

Following protests that left over 100 people dead, Bangladesh’s Supreme Court slashed the quota for relatives of freedom fighters to 5 percent from 30 percent, leaving 93 percent of jobs determined by merit and 2 percent reserved for ethnic minorities, transgender people, and the disabled, local reports quoted by Al Jazeera said.