Security has been tightened at the Indian Assistant High Commission office and the visa application centre in Sylhet amid heightened tensions following recent protests in the city. The move was taken to ensure ‘No third party can exploit the situation,’ said Saiful Islam, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Media) of the Sylhet Metropolitan Police.
According to police sources, security was reinforced from Friday morning at the Assistant High Commission office located in Block ‘E’ of the city’s Upashahar area, the residence of the Assistant High Commissioner in the same locality, and the visa application centre in the Shobhanighat area. Members of the security forces also remained deployed throughout the night.
The heightened security comes in the wake of the killing of Sharif Osman Hadi, spokesperson of Inqilab Mancha and an MP candidate for Dhaka-8, on Thursday. Following the incident, Gano Odhikar Parishad announced a programme to besiege the Assistant High Commission office. Although a protest march was declared after Friday’s Jumma prayers, law enforcement agencies had already set up security cordons in advance.
After Jumma prayers, separate protest marches and sit-in programmes were held by Islami Chhatra Shibir, NCP, Chhatra Jamiat and Inqilab Mancha. Their activities were confined to Bandar Bazar, Court Point, City Point, Zindabazar and Chowhatta areas.
Police, CRT and army personnel were seen stationed in front of the Indian Assistant High Commission office in the Upashahar area on Friday afternoon. Army vehicles also patrolled different parts of the city, while a visible joint presence of police and army personnel was noted at Bandar Bazar and the Central Shaheed Minar.
Inqilab Mancha staged a sit-in in front of the Sylhet Central Shaheed Minar, protesting Hadi’s killing and raising slogans against what they described as Indian dominance. During the demonstration, one side of the road was temporarily blocked.
Meanwhile, protests, road blockades and acts of vandalism were reported in parts of the city on Thursday night. Stones were thrown at the Sylhet office of a national daily and at a restaurant in the Chowhatta area.
Sylhet Metropolitan Police Commissioner Abdul Quddus Chowdhury said a large number of police personnel have been deployed across the city since Thursday night to prevent any acts of sabotage.
