India, Bangladesh border meet today amid strain in ties

India, Bangladesh border meet today amid strain in ties

India, Bangladesh border meet today amid strain in ties ByPrawesh Lama, New Delhi Feb 17, 2025 01:09 AM IST Share Via Copy Link Indian and Bangladeshi border forces meet in Delhi to discuss border fencing, attacks on personnel, and cross-border crimes, amid strained ties.

The heads of the border guard forces of India and Bangladesh are scheduled to meet in Delhi on Monday for the first time since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government to discuss key issues, ranging from fencing at the border to attacks on Indian personnel, officials aware of the matter said on Sunday.

India, B’desh border meet today amid strain in ties

The Indian side will be led by Border Security Force (BSF) director general (DG) Daljit Singh Chawdhary and the 10-member Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) delegation will be headed by major general Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui at the 55th Director General-Level Border Coordination Conference, scheduled from February 17-20.

“Construction of Single Row Fence (SRF), prevention of attacks on BSF personnel and civilian residents of border villages by Bangladesh-based miscreants, curbing transborder crimes, issues related to border infrastructure, action against Indian insurgent groups based in Bangladesh, and effective implementation of Coordinated Border Management Plan (CBMP) are among the issues to be taken up in the meeting,” BSF said in a statement.

The setting up of SRF is one of the flashpoints in the New Delhi-Dhaka ties. India wants to complete fencing at the previously agreed upon points of the frontier at the earliest. However, BGB has objected to the construction at some of these points after the change of regime in Dhaka.

India has a 4,096-km border with Bangladesh that is marked by difficult terrain such as hills, rivers, and valleys, with cross-border crimes and illegal migration perceived as the major challenges. In order to prevent illegal migration and criminal activities from across the border, the Indian government sanctioned the phased construction of border fencing with floodlights. So far, 3196.7km of the border have been fenced.

“The fencing work was earlier agreed upon, but the current Bangladeshi dispensation has refused to recognise it. The jawans on their side told us that their headquarters had directed them to oppose the construction,” a BSF official from Kolkata said on condition of anonymity.

Bilateral ties between the two countries hit a low after Hasina, who is currently in self-exile in India, was ousted last August. The caretaker administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has begun reviewing understandings and agreements finalised with India by the previous government. Last month, India’s envoy in Dhaka, Pranay Verma, was told by Bangladesh’s foreign secretary Mohammad Jashim Uddin that the “unauthorised” construction of border fencing by the BSF was a matter of “deep concern”. A day later, Bangladesh’s acting high commissioner Mohammad Nural Islam was summoned by the Indian’s ministry of external affairs and informed that India has “observed all protocols and agreements” while undertaking security measures at the border, including the fencing process. Later in January, local media quoted Bangladesh home advisor lieutenant general (retd) Mohammed Jahangir Alam Chowdhury as saying that they will “adopt a different tone” in the meeting and revisit “past agreements with India that were unequal and signed by the previous regime”.

On January 5, BGB personnel along with Bangladesh civilians attempted to stop India from building a single row fence in West Bengal’s Malda district, leading to the pelting of stones on the Indian personnel. “The construction of this fence is still on hold, like it is at many other places. All these matters, which could not be sorted despite flag meetings at the sector commander level of the two forces on the ground, will be taken up in the New Delhi meeting,” a second BSF officer said. BSF has also stopped BGB from building illegal bunkers at two different places within 150 yards of the international border.

At the meeting, the Indian side is also expected to raise the issue of armed miscreants from Bangladesh attacking Indian border personnel.

“In the last three months, there have been over two dozen cases of Bangladesh infiltrators and smugglers in large groups attempting to kill BSF guards and snatch weapons. In all cases, our forces used non-lethal firearms such as pump action guns (PAGs) and stun grenades. They should be detected and stopped at their side in the first place,” the first BSF officer quoted in the story said.

The most recent attack was reported on the intervening night of February 4-5 when armed Bangladesh criminals attacked a BSF jawan in Dakshin Dinajpur, West Bengal. Hours before this incident, a group of similar miscreants had attacked BSF jawans with swords and sharp-edged weapons at another border point in the same district of West Bengal. In both cases, BSF filed a protest note against BGB for failing to stop miscreants in large groups from crossing their side of the border and entering India illegally for crimes.

The government also informed Parliament in the budget session that India has conveyed to Bangladesh that it expects a cooperative approach from the neighbouring country for combating cross-border crimes, and this includes the border fencing work.