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BSF, BGB officials meet over skirmish near Bengal border
At least a thousand citizens from both sides pelted stones, prompting forces to use stun grenades and tear gas to quell the violence, officials said.
Border guards from India and Bangladesh will ensure that residents along the international border in the Malda-Rajshahi sector will not engage in violence again, and both forces will track social media to ensure fake narratives are not peddled to instigate violence. These were the two key takeaways from a sector commander meeting between the Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), people aware of the matter said on Thursday.
A five-member BSF delegation from the Malda sector visited Bangladesh for a meeting with BGB on Wednesday, three days after Indian and Bangladeshi citizens were involved in stone-pelting due to a dispute along the Sukdevpur border village.
At least a thousand citizens from both sides pelted stones, prompting forces to use stun grenades and tear gas to quell the violence, officials said.
“The Indian villagers had retreated as soon as additional forces reached the spot. The civilians on the Bangladesh side were at the border till 5-6pm that day. Despite BGB personnel urging them to return and not loiter by the border, they were adamant. Both forces will ensure that there will be no gathering of civilians, except farmers who go to their fields near the border, until the matter is resolved, as the disputed border fence construction work is on hold,” an official aware of the incident said, asking not to be named.
The single border fence construction work (agreed upon by both sides before the regime change in Bangladesh on August 5, 2024) on Indian side is on hold after BGB opposed the construction earlier this month. The discussion on the issue is expected to be taken up at the director general meeting of the chiefs of the two forces in New Delhi on February 16 and 19.
NK Pandey, deputy inspector general (DIG) of the South Bengal frontier, confirmed the BSF-BGB meeting was held at the border outpost in Sonamasjid, Bangladesh.
“Important issues of mutual interest in border areas related to border management were discussed in the meeting. Strengthening bilateral cooperation, control of illegal activities in the border area, prevention of movement of people other than farmers near the international border were also discussed, and consensus was reached. Both sides emphasised on finding solutions to border related problems through mutual dialogue and consensus,” Pandey said.
The officer added that both sides expressed concern over exaggeration of border-related disputes and rumours in some sections of the media and agreed to prevent the same.
In recent months, BSF officers on the ground say they have spotted a trend of border villagers from Bangladesh recording incidents of minor disputes between the two forces and spreading a fake narrative of tension along the border.
The BSF guards 4,096.7km of the Indo-Bangladesh border passing from West Bengal (2,216.7km), Assam (263km), Meghalaya (443km), Tripura (856km) and Mizoram (318km). Around 300km of the border is yet to be fenced because of the terrain as the border passes through riverine belts, hills and jungles. At these unfenced border points, the BSF personnel use cameras, sensors and have also set up flood lights. But taking advantage of specific spots at the porous borders, smugglers and infiltrators operate and use it to enter India.
Since August 5 — the day former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled Bangladesh after a political turmoil — the two forces have been locked in an impasse over issues such as construction works, attacks against BSF personnel and issues related to jurisdiction. BSF officials on the ground have said that the BGB personnel have refused to agree to construction works that were agreed upon during Hasina’s regime. The latest was the construction work of the fence in Sukdevpur village, mutually agreed more than four years ago.
“Recent concerns were also discussed in the meeting, including the incident at Sukdevpur border in Malda district on 18 January 2025. BSF reiterated its commitment to work closely with BGB to maintain peace and security along the Indo-Bangladesh border,” Pandey said.
