Border tension rose this week to a new high for the two countries since last year after security forces from both India and Bangladesh faced off over a barbed wire fence that India was building to check cross-border cattle movement. The event which happened on Thursday, has put more pressure on the relations between the two nations, thus making them threaten to cut off diplomatic ties following the latest political unrest in Bangladesh.
It originates from the fact that India’s Border Security Forces sought to put up the barrier, and this has been resisted by Bangladesh’s border guards, who are known as the Border Guards Bangladesh. In the words of the deputy inspector general of the border security force, BSF, A K Arya, the Bangladeshi forces took action to put an end to the construction. Hence, there was pressure building up on the forces from both sides. “Conflict arose following a series of attempts by Bangladesh border guards to prevent the erection of a cattle fence,” Arya said in an interview with a new agency, adding that there was no fighting during the incident.
The background to this act is the political crisis in Bangladesh whereby a legitimately elected Sheikh Hasina was ousted from the post of prime minister on August 5 by students’ rebellion. Hasina, who is now in exile in India, was very much supported by New Delhi during her fifteen-year rule. Her dismissal has somewhat acted as a catalyst for many Bangladeshis to turn against India because of the latter’s support of Hasina’s regime. This growing discontent has compounded the bilateral tensions, which were not smooth by any stretch of imagination given the two countries’ historical and geopolitical context.
Bangladesh has a long and porous border with India that measures approximately 4,000km; this border has large sections that are unfenced. Contrary to the intentions, the constant construction of fencing by India has been a bone of contention as Bangladesh has repeatedly complained that such barriers hinder their cross-border Trading and the means of living of the people on these borders. The recent controversy over the construction of cattle fences belongs to the problematic dynamics of the India-Bangladesh relationship, as the conflict is rooted in the bilateral crises.
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