Days after the Tariq Rahman-led government came to power in Bangladesh, India is preparing to resume all visa services in Bangladesh, a senior consular official said on Thursday.
Anirudh Das, senior Indian consular officer in Sylhet, said efforts are underway to fully restore all visa services, bdnews24 reported.
“Medical visas and dual entry visas are now being issued and steps are being taken to resume other categories, including travel visas,” Das said at the Sylhet District Press Club.
The Indian Assistant High Commissioner in Sylhet also emphasized maximum cooperation to strengthen bilateral relations by facilitating visas, according to bdnews24. He said that India-Bangladesh relations stand on the “foundation of mutual respect and honour”.
“The people of the two countries will be the main stakeholders in a stable, positive, constructive, long-term and mutually beneficial relationship,” Das was quoted as saying by BD News 24. The official added that the two countries “share the same expectations” and want to work together.
Indian visa centers have suspended their operations in Bangladesh as relations between the two countries deteriorated after the death of student leader Sharif Othman Hadi. The killing of the student leader led to protests in Bangladesh that took an anti-Indian character. Relations between the two countries were initially tense after the overthrow of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India after protests in July 2024.
“Whenever the security situation worsens, we are forced to close,” an official from the Indian Visa Center told news agency ANI in December last year.
In January, Bangladesh also restricted the issuance of visas to Indian citizens, and expanded the restrictions to include its missions in Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai. All visa categories were suspended except for work and employment visas. The Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi suspended visa services for an indefinite period on December 22 after protests near the mission.
