Situation worsens on India-Bangladesh border, high-level talks over ‘150-Yard’ border on…, Yunus govt in mood to…

India and Bangladesh are self-discipline to face off on February 17 over a dispute concerning a 150-yard strip of land alongside their border. On Tuesday, January 29, 2025, Bangladesh’s Residence Handbook, Mohammad Jahangir Alam Choudhury, issued a stern warning, declaring that India would gape a various stance from Bangladesh. He emphasised that the border field can be discussed all over a assembly scheduled in New Delhi subsequent month.

No matter Bangladesh announcing that this would “talk in a various tone” all over the upcoming talks between the border forces of the two worldwide locations, India said that it expects “all mutually agreed MOUs and agreements to be honoured”. Director Total stage talks between the Border Safety Force (BSF) and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) are to be held in New Delhi from February 17 to 20.

This can be the predominant assembly of the director generals of the border forces after the Awami League govt of Sheikh Hasina modified into ousted on August 5 closing yr, and an army-backed intervening time govt took energy.

India has been installing wire fencing alongside the nearly 5,000-kilometer-long border, a switch that Bangladesh strongly objects to. Citing the 1975 agreement, Bangladesh claims that no defensive construction can even be built contained within the 150-yard zone. On the opposite hand, India argues that the fencing is never any longer a protection construction but a measure to stop illegal infiltration, prison actions, and cattle smuggling all over the border.

Venerable Extra Director Total of the Border Safety Force (BSF), S.K. Sood, clarified that India does no longer preserve in mind the fencing a protection construction, even though Bangladesh and Pakistan gape it in a completely different method. Earlier this yr, India had summoned Bangladesh’s Excessive Commissioner, Mohammad Nurul Islam, to focus on the matter.

Bangladesh’s objections to India’s border fencing

Dr. Sridhara Dutta, a border points educated and professor at O.P. Jindal University, explains that the India-Bangladesh border has remained complex for the explanation that 1971 partition. The border cuts through several villages, with some houses having one door in India and one other in Bangladesh. In some circumstances, even a soccer field has one goalpost in India and the opposite in Bangladesh. Along the 2,217-kilometer border with West Bengal, many villages fall contained within the fencing line.

A 1975 agreement between the two worldwide locations prohibits the construction of any protection structures within 150 yards of the border. Bangladesh views India’s wire fencing as a protection construction, arguing that it may perchance perchance enable India to discover its territory.

Based on Surjit Singh Guleria, a retired Inspector Total of the BSF with 37 years of carrier, Bangladesh also raises considerations about India’s “orderly fencing,” which contains CCTV cameras and electronic surveillance devices. The Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) believes that inserting these devices within 100 yards of the border allows India to preserve a conclude discover on Bangladeshi territory. Furthermore, Bangladesh argues that the fencing would build difficulties for of us residing alongside the border.

India’s stand on the border dispute

The India-Bangladesh border stretches for 4,096.7 kilometers, passing through Tripura, Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya, and Mizoram. India argues that illegal infiltration from Bangladesh is a predominant danger, and the fencing is being installed to stop such actions.

Based on Surjit Singh Guleria, the fencing contained within the 150-yard zone is largely for villages located alongside the realm border. He estimates that close to 60% of substandard-border crimes occur in areas without fencing or in villages positioned good on the border. On the opposite hand, Bangladesh refuses to acknowledge this field, leading to a dispute.

Commenting on Bangladesh’s objections, historical militia officer S.K. Sood acknowledged that India has told Bangladesh about the areas where fencing is incomplete as a consequence of inhabitants density or other constraints. He defined that if there are villages or water our bodies advance the border that may't be relocated, India attempts to set up fencing in a method that addresses security considerations.