India’s fencing of its border with Bangladesh has emerged as the latest sore spot between the two neighbors.
On January 12, Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Indian high commissioner in Dhaka to convey to him Bangladesh’s “deep concern” over the “unauthorized attempts to construct barbed wire fencing and the related operational actions” by India’s Border Security Force (BSF), which “have caused tensions and disturbances along the border.”
The following day, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) informed Bangladesh’s interim high commissioner in New Delhi that India had “observed all protocols and agreements between the two governments” and between the BSF and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in erecting the fencing.
The latest bilateral border spat erupted on January 8, when India resumed fencing work along its border with Bangladesh. According to reports, BGB personnel objected to BSF fence construction activity at several places. There were violent clashes too between Indian and Bangladeshi civilians living near the border. Importantly, Bangladesh accused the BSF of shooting dead a Bangladeshi citizen and injuring several others.
India and Bangladesh share a 4,096.7 kilometer-long border. India began fencing it in 1986 amid rising concerns over Bangladeshi migration into India’s Northeast, which fueled a powerful anti-foreigner movement and an armed insurgency.
Over the past four decades, the border fencing against immigrants has become much more. As the MEA pointed out in its recent statement, “barbed wire fencing, border lighting, installation of technical devices and cattle fences are measures for securing the border” against “cross-border criminal activities, smuggling, movement of criminals and trafficking.”
Despite the fencing, the Bangladesh-India border is porous. Around 950 km of the border is yet to be fenced. Land acquisition problems have slowed fence construction. Besides, in many stretches the fencing is “loose and broken” and concertina wire is rusted, a retired BSF official told The Diplomat. Importantly, since the border runs through difficult terrain — in some areas it runs through rivers that constantly shift course — “fencing it fully is difficult if not impossible.” What is more, the corruption of border guards on both sides has helped criminals with their illegal cross-border operations.
The recent upsurge in border tensions comes at a difficult time in Bangladesh-India relations. Relations have turned acrimonious since the fall of the pro-India Sheikh Hasina government in August last year. The Mohammad Yunus-led interim government has been demanding the extradition of Hasina, who is in India, to face trial for alleged war crimes. India, meanwhile, has accused Dhaka of not doing enough to protect Bangladesh’s Hindu minority. It is amid this sparring that the spat over the border fence erupted.
However, the dispute is not new.
Bangladesh has long objected to the Indian fence, arguing that it is a violation of the 1975 Joint India-Bangladesh Guidelines for Border Authorities under which no defense structures can be built within 150 yards of the zero line of the international border. India maintains that its single-row fence along the border is not a “defense structure.”
Besides, in some places, villages extend up to the border, so the 150-yard rule is hard to adhere to always. Where “fencing cannot be constructed under the 1975 border guidelines, we inform Bangladesh that we need to build fencing near the border,” S. K. Sood (retd), former additional director general of the BSF, told the Indian Express. Negotiations between BSF and BGB officials on the ground follow and BSF construction of the fence begins after mutual agreement.
Dhaka has also objected to India’s “smart fencing.” It fears India will use electronic technology used in the fence to surveil Bangladesh.
Post-Hasina Bangladesh has witnessed a marked increase not only in anti-India sentiment but also in sensitivity on questions related to Bangladeshi sovereignty. There are growing calls in Bangladesh to correct the imbalance in Bangladesh-India agreements, which are seen to have benefited India disproportionately. The unusually forceful objections raised by Dhaka in recent weeks should be seen in this context.
Referring to the Indian border fence, Home Affairs Adviser to the interim administration Lt. Gen. (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, for example, said on January 12 that the Hasina government allowed “India to perform some unequal activities at the border from 2010 to 2023. India should not have done so, but the previous government gave them the opportunity.”
“The previous government had signed four agreements regarding the border situation,” Chowdhury said, asserting that “the interim government will review all of them.”
Meanwhile, things are looking up along the border; the situation on the ground has calmed. BGB and BSF sector commanders have met to discuss the fence, border management, and measures to curb cross-border crime, and the BGB additional director of operations of the Khulna sector described the meeting as a “highly productive discussion.”
“In light of the 1975 Bangladesh-India Joint Border Agreement and the Integrated Border Management Plan, both sides agreed to resolve any emerging border issues promptly and peacefully through dialogue,” the Dhaka Tribune quoted him as saying.
In another positive sign, the directors-general of the BSF and BGB are scheduled to meet for border talks between February 16 and 19. This is the first top-level talks between border forces of the two sides since Hasina’s ouster.
Interestingly, while advisers in Bangladesh’s interim government are breathing fire over India’s border fence, the officials responsible for securing Bangladesh’s border with India seem to be taking a more pragmatic approach.