In response to the escalating unrest in Bangladesh, the Union government has established a high-level committee to closely monitor the situation along the Indo-Bangladesh border. This committee has been formed in light of the recent developments in Bangladesh, where deadly protests and violence have shaken the country, particularly affecting minority communities, including Hindus.
The committee, comprising five members, is headed by the Additional Director General (ADG) of the Border Security Force (BSF) for the Eastern Command. The team also includes BSF’s Tripura Frontier IG Patel Piyush Purushottam Das, IG for the BSF’s South Bengal frontier, a member responsible for planning and development from the Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI), and the secretary of the LPAI.
The committee’s primary responsibility is to maintain open channels of communication with their counterparts in Bangladesh, focusing on the safety and security of Indian nationals, Hindus, and other minority communities residing in the neighboring country. Given the volatile situation in Bangladesh, which has seen significant violence in recent weeks, this initiative underscores India’s concern for the well-being of its nationals and minority groups across the border.
The unrest in Bangladesh has been particularly severe, with over 500 people, including police personnel, losing their lives during anti-government demonstrations. These protests initially began as a student-led movement against job quotas but have since escalated into broader anti-government unrest. The situation deteriorated further when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India earlier this week, leading to reports of attacks on Hindus and other minority communities in Bangladesh.
In a social media post, Union Home Minister Amit Shah highlighted the committee’s formation and its crucial role in monitoring the border situation. He emphasized the importance of ensuring the safety of those affected by the ongoing violence in Bangladesh.
In the meantime, North East Students’ Organisation (NESO) — an apex body of eight students’ bodies representing seven NE states — on Thursday urged Home Minister Amit Shah to not provide shelter to any individual from the trouble-torn neighbouring nation of Bangladesh in India’s northeastern region.
NESO Chairman Samuel Jyrwa and Secretary General Mutsikhoyo Yhobu in a letter to HM Amit Shah said that “the unabated flow of immigrants into the northeastern region earlier caused insecurity, agitations, riots and clashes between foreigners and the indigenous people of the region”.
Requesting Shah’s immediate intervention to ensure no migrants are allowed to enter the north eastern states from Bangladesh, the NESO leaders requested the Home Minister to take steps so that “not even a single Bangladeshi is granted asylum in the entire region”.
“At this juncture, it is also imperative for the Central government to ensure that the border between northeast India and Bangladesh should be thoroughly and strictly manned to detect attempted illegal migration from across the border,” the NESO told the Home Minister.
It said that the prevailing situation in Bangladesh can have serious ramifications in India, especially in the northeastern region where four states – Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram — share a vast boundary with Bangladesh.
The NESO leaders submitted that the ongoing crisis in Bangladesh may lead to an exodus of its nationals into India, especially in the northeast region and past events indicate that whenever there is a civil war or a riot in Bangladesh, the region always had to bear the brunt of mass illegal immigration from the country.
“The northeastern region is home to a plethora of indigenous communities which are microscopic in numbers and live among their own communities in traditionally marked territories. The arrival of millions of illegal foreigners from other countries led to a contestation of space, forced cultural assimilation, economic competition and distrust between the indigenous populace and the foreigners,” the NESO letter mentioned.
An official said, the Indian government’s swift action in forming this high-level committee reflects its commitment to safeguarding the interests of its nationals and the broader minority communities in Bangladesh, as well as maintaining stability along the Indo-Bangladesh border during these challenging times.
