Recently, India has been trying to push in through the border. This has created tension at various borders. This push in attempt by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) is not only undesirable, it has also created new tensions in the relations between the two countries. In this context, we believe that the bilateral mechanism that Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has talked about to stop push in is a logical and realistic way to resolve the problem.
Prothom Alo reports that the 57th Director General-level conference of BGB and BSF was held in the Indian capital New Delhi from June 8 to June 11. A joint press release and a separate statement were issued by the BGB after the conference. The BGB expressed deep concern over the BSF’s attempt to push Indian citizens, including Rohingya or Myanmar citizens, into Bangladesh and stated that this is against existing policies and protocols.
Despite joint guidelines on border issues, integrated border management plans and mutual decisions between BGB and BSF, push-ins have occurred in Bangladesh at various times in the past. Recently, there have been repeated attempts to push people, including women and children, across the border into Bangladesh. BGB has been resisting these push-in attempts. Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry has already written several letters to New Delhi to stop push-ins.
This push-in incident by the BSF has also created a humanitarian crisis on the border. There have been sad reports of people of different ages passing their days on the zero line, sunburned, drenched in rain, and suffering from food and water shortages. We believe that the push-in should be stopped before a major humanitarian disaster occurs on the border.
The joint statement said that during the talks, the two sides reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining peace and stability on the India-Bangladesh border. The relationship and security of the two countries also depend to a large extent on the stability of the border. If any Bangladeshi national is found to be residing illegally in India, he must be repatriated following the existing bilateral processes and protocols. India needs to remember that incidents like push-ins cannot be conducive to peace and stability on the border. India must respect the existing bilateral policies.
Although the BGB-BSF summit promised to stop the use of lethal weapons on the border and reduce border killings to zero many times, it has not been implemented. Incidents of killings of Bangladeshis and human rights violations by the BSF on various borders continue to occur, which is very worrying. In addition, the construction of various structures including security fences by the BSF within 150 yards of the international border has not stopped. In this summit, the BGB Director General expressed concern about border killings and construction of structures on the border.
Bangladesh and India are dependent on each other for various reasons including economy and security. Mutual cooperation and coordination between the border guards of the two countries is necessary to eradicate various types of cross-border crimes including drugs, terrorism, illegal arms, counterfeit money, human trafficking, gold smuggling. In the interest of peace and security, India must stop incidents like push-ins, border killings, and construction of structures on the border. The problem must be resolved on the basis of the existing bilateral system.
