Janice R. Andrews
Further reinforcements have been stationed by India at Bangladesh’s border with its neighbor, India, in the wake of a political upheaval that brought Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government to an end. On Monday, Hasina left Bangladesh and spent the night in India; her present location is unknown.
Although it has asked for a meeting with opposition parties, the Indian government has not yet released an official comment on the events. Foreign Minister S Jaishankar is expected to address parliament on Tuesday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi convened a meeting on Monday to assess the situation.
Bangladesh and India have a border that is 4,096 kilometers (2,545 miles) in length, and they have strong cultural and economic relations. There are worries that the current hostilities in Bangladesh may spread to India, which has backed Hasina during her 15-year term in office despite her divisive policies against opposition figures and dissent.
Bangladesh, which separated from Pakistan in 1971, is bordered by five Indian states. Government data from November of last year indicates that there are still 915.35 kilometers of unfenced border.
As a result of Hasina’s crackdown on anti-India terrorists in Bangladesh and her granting of transit rights to secure trade routes for neighboring Indian states, the security situation for India remained largely stable during her leadership.
At the Bangladeshi border in West Bengal on Monday, senior representatives of India’s Border Security Force (BSF) reviewed “operational preparedness and strategic deployment” in vital border sectors. According to a representative for the BSF, the government has given the force strong instructions to stop anyone from entering the nation without the proper documentation.
There is an indefinite suspension of train services between Bangladesh and India. Since the middle of July, they have been suspended due to violent demonstrations in Bangladesh. Furthermore, India has issued a warning to its nationals residing in Bangladesh to take “extreme caution.” With the help of India’s diplomatic offices in Bangladesh, more than 4,500 Indians came home in July.
The northeastern state of Meghalaya enforced a night curfew along its border with Bangladesh on Monday in reaction to Hasina’s resignation. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made a peace appeal from West Bengal, which has the longest border with Bangladesh and strong linguistic and cultural links. Hundreds of Indian lorries are stuck on the Bangladeshi side of the Petrapole land port due to the suspension of cargo transit.
The BBC was informed on Monday by a senior official that India “doesn’t have too many options at this point in time.” The ambassador underlined how crucial it is to strengthen border security in order to prevent any acts that can be interpreted as meddling in Bangladesh’s domestic affairs.
