Bangladesh’s interim government, led by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus, has recalled five key diplomats in a significant diplomatic reshuffle, a foreign ministry official confirmed on Thursday. The foreign ministry ordered envoys in Brussels, Canberra, Lisbon, New Delhi and the permanent mission to the United Nations in New York to immediately return to the capital, Dhaka. The envoys, including the ambassador to India, were ordered to return immediately.
This move comes in the wake of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation on August 5, following weeks of violent protests that led to her fleeing to India. Over 700 people lost their lives in the student-led protests that ousted Hasina, further straining relations between Bangladesh and India, which share a 4,000-km border. The reshuffle also follows the recall of Saida Muna Tasneem, Bangladesh’s high commissioner to Britain.
Amid the political upheaval, accusations of attacks on Bangladesh’s Hindu minority have emerged. However, the interim government insists that the violence was politically motivated, rather than religiously driven.
Melissa Enoch
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