Visa seekers, who went there to collect their passports, suddenly staged a demonstration at the Indian Visa Application Centre (IVAC) in Dhaka’s Jamuna Future Park, demanding Indian visas. The Indian High Commission official said they were returning all the passports keeping the applications active so that once full capacity is restored, the applicants can submit their passports again.
“Since many are asking to return their passports, we were doing that without rejecting their applications,” he said, adding that they need cooperation from the people. The Indian High Commission has already cleared pending medical visas. The staff of the Indian Visa Application Center were also “harassed” and felt “threatened”, which prevented them from effectively discharging their duties given the threat to their safety.
Police quickly rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control within a very short time, said an official.Vatara Police Station OC Mazharul Islam said around 300-400 visa seekers went to the the centre since 11 am and there was no vandalism. They brought the situation under control at 3 pm.
A number of videos went viral on social media immediately where people were seen chanting various slogans.“Indian collaborators, beware … .One point, one demand—we want visa,” they were heard shouting. The Indian official said with unruly behavior of the crowd, they will not be in a position to have smooth operation, even on a limited scale.
Regarding media reports on some students who need to go to India for student visas from some European countries, the High Commission said it is trying to reach out to those students.
“We are trying to get the numbers and trying to reach out to them, so that such emergency situations are also handled. We can try and grant them visas and make sure that their money and future are not affected,” said the official, seeking cooperation from all.
Despite the situation, they kept the IVAC operational to help medical and emergency cases. Indian Visa Application Center (IVAC) Bangladesh earlier said due to limited operations, the visa process may take longer.
“Hence, we are returning passports now and it will be re-processed once operations resume. The applicant will be notified via SMS to re-submit his/her passport,” it said. India has the largest visa operations in Bangladesh and 16 lakh people visited the country last year. Of them, 60 percent visited for tourism purposes, 30 percent for medical purposes, and 10 percent for other purposes.
On August 22, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Pranay Verma, expressed concerns regarding the safety and security of Indian establishments in Bangladesh including its High Commission in Dhaka. During a courtesy meeting with the interim government Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus at the state guesthouse Jamuna on Thursday, High Commissioner Verma raised these concerns.