India steps up border security after Bangladesh crisis
India has deployed additional troops along its border with Bangladesh after a political crisis in the neighbouring country brought down Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government.
Ms Hasina fled Bangladesh on Monday for India, where she spent the night. Her current whereabouts haven’t been disclosed.
India has not officially addressed the developments yet, but the federal government has called opposition parties for a meeting.
India shares a 4,096km (2,545 miles)-border with Bangladesh and has close economic and cultural ties with the country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting on Monday to review the situation. Reports say Foreign Minister S Jaishankar may make a statement in parliament on Tuesday.
There are worries that prolonged tensions in Bangladesh could spill over into India, which is seen as having supported Ms Hasina through her 15-year-long tenure despite her clamping down on dissent and jailing opposition leaders.
Five Indian states share a border with Bangladesh, which was formed in 1971 after a war with Pakistan. According to government data from last November, around 915.35km of the border is not fenced.
From a security perspective, Ms Hasina’s tenure was relatively peaceful for India as she had cracked down on anti-India militants in her country. She had also granted transit rights to secure trade routes for the states bordering Bangladesh.
On Monday, top officials of India’s Border Security Force (BSF) visited the Bangladesh border in the eastern state of West Bengal to review “operational preparedness and strategic deployment of BSF in these important border areas”, a spokesperson said.
The BSF said “it has received strict instruction from the government to not allow anyone into the country without valid documents”.
Train services between India and Bangladesh have been suspended “indefinitely” – they had been halted since mid-July after violent protests broke out in Bangladesh.
India has also asked its citizens in Bangladesh to exercise “extreme caution”.
More than 4,500 Indians had returned to the country in July with the help of its diplomatic missions in Bangladesh.
On Monday, following Ms Hasina’s resignation, the north-eastern state of Meghalaya imposed a night curfew along its border with Bangladesh.
In West Bengal, the state which shares the longest border with Bangladesh as well as close linguistic and cultural ties, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has appealed for peace.
Movement of goods through the Petrapole land port on the border has also been stopped. Reports say hundreds of Indian trucks are stuck on the Bangladesh side.
A senior diplomat told the BBC on Monday that India “doesn’t have too many options at this point in time”.
“We have to tighten control on our borders. Anything else would be construed as interference.”
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