The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: After protesters vandalised Bangladesh’s diplomatic mission in Agartala and desecrated its flag, the government described the incident as “deeply regrettable” while Dhaka underscored that it breached New Delhi’s obligations under international law.
On Monday (December 2) afternoon, a protest under the umbrella of Hindu Sangharsh Samiti was scheduled before the Assistant High Commission of Bangladesh in Tripura’s capital Agartala.
However, tensions soon escalated as the mob broke down the main gate of the Assistant High Commission and took down Bangladesh’s flag while the local police remained on the sidelines, as reported by several media outlets.
In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said that the “breach of premises at the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala is deeply regrettable. Diplomatic and consular properties should not be targeted under any circumstances.”
The ministry stated that the government was “taking action to step up security arrangements for the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi and their Deputy/Assistant High Commissions in the country.”
The Bangladesh government expressed concern that the local police had deliberately allowed the protestors to damage the premises. “The accounts received conclusively attest that the protesters were allowed to aggress into the premises, by breaking down the main gate of Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in a pre-planned manner,” said a statement of the Bangladesh foreign ministry on Monday evening.
It further regretted that the local policemen on duty “were found not to be active in containing the situation from the beginning.” The statement also stated that all members of the Assistant High Commission were “left with a deep sense of insecurity.”
“This particular act in Agartala stands in violation of the inviolability of diplomatic missions, as the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961, asks for,” the Bangladesh foreign ministry stated. The statement also linked the attack to a “pattern,” referencing a demonstration outside Bangladesh’s Deputy High Commission in Kolkata on November 28 that burned a Bangladeshi flag.
Reiterating the host government’s responsibility to safeguard diplomatic missions, Bangladesh called on India “to take immediate action to address this incident, to undertake a thorough investigation into the incident and to prevent any further acts of violence against the diplomatic missions of Bangladesh in India, including the safety and security of the diplomats and the non-diplomatic members of staff and members of their families.”
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India’s relations with Bangladesh have been tense since the ouster of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on August 5 and the installation of an interim government led by Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus. Since then, India has repeatedly alleged systematic attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh, while the interim government has maintained that measures are already being taken for their protection and accused New Delhi of exaggerating the situation.