Tripura: Amid tension, Indians cross borders from trouble-torn Bangladesh

Agartala, August 6: The Indian nationals, who had been staying in Bangladesh, have started to leave the trouble-hit country a day after Military rule was announced, on Monday.

With tension running high and reports of attacks on the houses of Hindu minorities, Awami league leaders and government establishments coming thick and fast, Indians who crossed over through Akhaura, said that they haven't faced any major difficulties in reaching the borders.

Nikhil Tiwari, who had been associated with road construction work in Bangladesh, told The Assam Tribune that the situation has substantially improved in comparison to what it was on Monday.

“None of us ventured out yesterday. Today, everything has slowed down. Based on the instructions from higher authorities, we returned home,” Tiwari added.

Apurba Tripura, an engineer working residing in the neighbouring country for the last couple months, shared that all infrastructure-related works has come to a grinding halt as Bangladesh is set for a regime change.

“We have been working there for some time. Recently, the news of the whole political upheaval halted all our work. We have been working on the Asian Highway project. All infrastructure-related work shall remain suspended until a stable government takes charge,” he added.

Another Indian who returned from Bangladesh said that there were no restrictions on movement of the Indians who had been moving out of the country.

“Situation is normal today. Yesterday, we saw large military platoons marching on the roads. We have seen everything from the camps where we used to work. However, we haven't faced any problems reaching the borders. In some places, rallies were organised with massive attendance, but we weren't disturbed or asked to stop at any location.”

On being asked about reports of minorities being attacked, he said, “In some places incidents have happened. There has been no organised attack so far. I have been there for the last one-and-half years. The protests started as an anti-quota movement and got settled within some time. But, the protests were re-ignited sometime and we didn't think that it would go this far.”