KOLKATA: India has arrested nearly a dozen Bangladeshis attempting to cross the border to escape violence and political tumult following deadly protests that led to the ouster of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, border officials said Monday.
Hundreds more are waiting along the frontier pleading for permission to cross, India’s Border Security Force (BSF) said.
Hindus are the largest minority faith in mostly Muslim Bangladesh, and are considered a steadfast support base for Hasina’s party, the Awami League.
After Hasina’s abrupt resignation and escape to India ended her 15 years of autocratic rule on August 5, there were numerous reports of attacks against Hindu households, temples and businesses.
India’s BSF said 11 Bangladesh nationals had been arrested since Sunday trying to “sneak” across the frontier into West Bengal state.
“Several hundred Bangladeshi nationals are still waiting in no-man’s land to cross over the border,” BSF deputy inspector general Amit Kumar Tyagi told AFP.
Bangladesh is almost entirely encircled by India, with the border stretching for more than 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles), large parts of which are unfenced.
Four Bangladeshis were also “repelled” from India’s Assam state, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on social media platform X.
New Delhi has kept a wary eye on the fall of Hasina, who pursued a delicate balancing act of enjoying support from India while maintaining strong relations with China.
Hindus account for around 8 percent of Bangladesh’s 170 million people.
Over the past week, religious rights groups said they documented more than 200 incidents of attacks on minority communities in Bangladesh, a figure that also includes Christians and Buddhists.
The security situation has since dramatically improved, and on Monday Bangladeshi police resumed patrols of the capital Dhaka, ending a strike that left a law and order vacuum.
India’s home minister Amit Shah said Friday a committee had been created to monitor the situation “to ensure the safety and security of Indian nationals, Hindus, and other minority communities living there.”
Interim government leader Muhammad Yunus’s “council of advisers,” the de facto cabinet now administering the country, said it had noted with “grave concern” some attacks on Hindus and other minorities.
In its first official statement on Sunday night, the cabinet said it would work to “find ways to resolve such heinous attacks.”
India blocks Bangladeshis fleeing chaotic regime change
https://arab.news/jr7jc
India blocks Bangladeshis fleeing chaotic regime change
- After Hasina’s abrupt resignation and escape to India, there are numerous reports of attacks on Hindu households, temples and businesses
- Indian border authorities say 11 Bangladesh nationals have been arrested since Sunday trying to ‘sneak’ across the border into West Bengal
Norway says Russia, China seek to up presence on Svalbard
- The second-largest town on Svalbard is almost entirely populated by Russian nationals
- China’s presence was becoming more visible in the Arctic
OSLO: While global tensions have focused on Greenland, Norway’s military intelligence service said on Friday that Russia and China were looking to increase their presence on the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard.
In its annual threat assessment, the Norwegian Intelligence Service said that “from Moscow’s perspective, Svalbard’s strategic location makes it necessary to maintain a Russian presence there.”
The second-largest town on Svalbard, the coal mining settlement of Barentsburg, is almost entirely populated by Russian nationals.
“There are signs that the Kremlin is looking to make the Barentsburg settlement less dependent on Norwegian supply and transport infrastructure
“Regular port visits by ships from Russia constitute one planned step in this direction,” the agency said.
It said Beijing was “also expected to work toward enhancing the Chinese presence in Svalbard.”
“The archipelago is strategically placed for future shipping routes and polar research, which are central to cementing China’s role as an Arctic actor,” it said in its report.
It noted that China’s presence was becoming more visible in the Arctic and that five Chinese research vessels had operated in the Arctic Ocean in 2025, compared to three in 2024 and one in previous years.
The service also noted that tensions between the United States and Europe over Greenland and security in the Arctic “could serve both Russian and Chinese interests.”
- ‘Crumbling’ world order -
Andreas Stensones, head of the service, said in the report that Moscow and Beijing stood to benefit as “international cooperation and institutions are being undermined.”
“The same dynamic is evident in the Arctic. Much of the foundation for Norwegian security is being challenged and we must accept that the world order as we have known it is crumbling,” Stensones said.
Speaking at a press conference, Norwegian Defense Minister Tore Sandvik noted: “2026 has so far been characterised by great uncertainty.”
He pointed in particular to US President Donald Trump’s vocally stated desire to take over Greenland.
Trump’s threats against Greenland last month plunged NATO — of which Norway is a member — into its deepest crisis in years.
“There is no denying that relations across the Atlantic are more unpredictable,” Sandvik said.
Stensones told the same press conference that Washington’s actions affected how both Moscow and Beijing were thinking and acting.
“In their view, western unity has already begun to crack, and they see great opportunities to strengthen their influence and secure control in their neighboring areas,” he told reporters.
