Border tense as Bangladesh guards stop India from building fence
- In Reports
- 05:55 PM, Aug 24, 2024
- Myind Staff
On 22nd August, Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) personnel prevented Border Security Force (BSF) officers from building a cattle fence near the India-Bangladesh border in Coochbehar, North Bengal, further straining relations between the two nations amid the ongoing political turmoil in Dhaka.
According to sources familiar with the situation, no violence occurred, but the construction has been halted and will be addressed during a meeting of the director generals of the two forces in Delhi this October.
“While our personnel were supervising the construction of the cattle fence, BGB personnel came over and objected. It was not even a border fence,” said a top BSF official aware of the issue.
“The fence was being built to ensure that cattle from one country don’t stray into another, which often causes disputes between village residents on either side,” added the official, who asked not to be named.
Another official, speaking on condition of anonymity, stated that the cattle fence was being constructed in accordance with a 2012 agreement between the two countries.
BGB and BSF battalion commandants held a flag meeting at the border in an attempt to resolve the issue amicably, but they were unable to reach a solution.
“The matter will be brought up during a meeting of the director generals’ of the two forces, scheduled to be held in Delhi in the first week of October. On both sides of the border, there is no violence, but patrolling by both forces has been increased,” said the second official.
The chiefs of the two border-guarding forces meet twice a year to discuss issues along the 4,096.7km Indo-Bangladesh border. The most recent meeting took place in Bangladesh on 5th March this year. However, BGB has yet to confirm the date for the upcoming meeting.
This marks the second time in a week that tensions have flared at the border, which has been on edge since Bangladesh's Awami League government collapsed on 5th August amid chaos and violence. Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled Dhaka as bloody protests against her administration intensified, leading to her resignation. Since then, an interim government headed by Nobel laureate and microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus has taken charge.
However, several individuals, particularly supporters or members of Hasina’s Awami League, have attempted to enter India, prompting the BSF to heighten security and prevent illegal immigration.
On 24th August, BGB declined to return five Indian nationals who had accidentally strayed into Bangladeshi territorial waters. The five men were assisting BSF personnel in rescuing smuggled animals in the Ganga when their speedboat encountered a malfunction, causing them to be swept towards Bangladesh by the currents. Despite multiple flag meetings at various levels, BGB has refused to hand them back, and they have been imprisoned in a Bangladeshi jail. They remain in custody.
BSF headquarters in Delhi has maintained in different press statements that BGB has responded well on matters concerning illegal infiltration and protection of minorities, but people on the ground in the eastern frontier have said BGB’s stance on a range of issues has changed since the government fell.
Since Hasina’s ouster, the BSF in its statements has maintained that the BGB personnel have been taking steps to protect Indian nationals and those from minority communities in Bangladesh. But many mid-level officials in BSF that HT spoke to are apprehensive that the regime change could lead to changes in the BGB too and recalled that the relationship between the two forces was not amicable in the years when Hasina was not in power during the early 2000s.
Image source: Hindustan Times
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