Bangladesh to speak in different tone during upcoming border conference with India: Home Affairs Advisor

Dhaka, Jan 30 (Representative) Bangladesh will speak in a “different tone” during the upcoming border conference between the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and the Indian Border Security Force (BSF), to be held in New Delhi, the Interim Government’s Home Affairs Advisor Lt Gen (retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said. The border forces of Bangladesh and India are set to hold a director general-level meeting in New Delhi from February 17 to 20 amid tensions between the two neighbours over border fencing at several points. This would be the first meeting of the director generals of the border forces after the Awami League government of Sheikh Hasina was ousted on August 5 last year, and an army-backed interim government took power. However, the home adviser, however, didn’t elaborate on what he meant by “speak in a different tone”. Bangladesh would renew its call for an end to the killing of unarmed Bangladeshi nationals along the border by the BSF and the smuggling of drugs from India at the meeting that would also discuss disputes over the border lines in Muhurir Char area in Feni, border pillar installation, coordinated border management plan, according to officials, newagebd reported. During the four-day DG-level talks, the Bangladesh side “would seek to scrap uneven agreements with India and discuss other border-related issues”, Jahangir Alam Chowdhury told a press briefing after presiding over an inter-ministerial meeting for the preparations of the 55th BGB-BSF DG-level talks. He said that Bangladesh would raise the issues of the killing and detention of Bangladesh citizens along the border by the BSF, infiltrations of Indian nationals inside Bangladesh territory, common rivers, and the smuggling of weapons and drugs into Bangladesh. Tensions escalated between the two neighbours over the construction of barbed wire fences at five points in bordering districts of Chapainawabgang, Lalmonirhat and Naogaon with the deployment of additional forces on both the sides. On January 12, the Bangladesh foreign ministry summoned the Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma, to express its concern over the construction of barbed wire fences and protest the killing of a Bangladeshi national by the BSF on the border.

The home adviser said that “development activities were being carried out by India within 150 yards along the border without the consent of Bangladesh side”. He said that Bangladesh would propose installation of water treatment plants in four canals where waste water flows from India’s Agartala to Bangladesh’s Akhaura in Brahmanbaria. Asked for further details about uneven agreements, Jahangir said, “All kinds of unequal agreements related to the border with India will be discussed.” He said that in 2011, an unequal agreement was signed with India regarding the Tin Bigha and Dahagram corridors of Bangladesh. “If any development work is done within 150 yards of the border, permission from both sides is required. There is no scope of doing these things unilaterally,” he said. The border management-related deals with India include the Land Boundary Agreement-1974, Joint India-Bangladesh Guide Line for Border Authorities-1975, Land Boundary Agreement Protocol-2011 (Exchange of enclaves/disposal of disputed land) and Coordinated Border Management Plan-2011 (Border patrolling, flag meeting and confidence building measures), said officials. From January 2009 to November 2024, the BSF reportedly killed 588 Bangladeshis and injured 773 Bangladeshis, according to rights organisation Odhikar. At the briefing, a journalist asked, “I do not see anything new on the agenda. Would you please say what is new here?” The Home Advisor responded that the “tone of voice will be different than in previous years”. Meanwhile, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) director general, Major General Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui on Wednesday said that Bangladesh will not make any concessions on issues where it feels deprived in its dealings with India. “We will not compromise on the matters where we believe we have been deprived,” he told a press briefing. He added that the Foreign Ministry has been asked to address the unfair agreements with India through diplomatic channels. “These issues will be resolved diplomatically, but from our side, there will be no concessions,” he said. Regarding the border conference, the BGB chief said “Border killings will be a key agenda in the meeting. We will not compromise on any issue,” he said.