India summons top Bangladesh diplomat amid border fencing row

NEW DELHI: India on Monday summoned deputy high commissioner of Bangladesh, Nural Islam, amid the ongoing border fencing row at Sukdevpur in Malda's Baishnabnagar.

This comes a day after Bangladesh summoned Indian diplomat Pranay Verma to discuss a "cooperative approach to combating crime" in the border areas.


"We have an understanding regarding fencing the border for security purposes, and the two border forces, BSF and BGB, have been in regular communication," Pranay Verma, Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh, had told reporters after meeting.


"We expect that this understanding will be implemented and there will be a cooperative approach to combating crimes along the border," he had said.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh's home affairs adviser Jahangir Alam Chowdhury blamed the ongoing border tensions on "unequal agreements" made during the previous government's tenure, saying that these deals have caused multiple complications along the India-Bangladesh border.

"Due to some unequal agreements signed during the previous government's tenure, several issues have arisen along the Bangladesh-India border," he had said.

Tensions escalated last week as the Border Security Force (BSF) faced objections from the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) while attempting to install single-row barbed wire fencing at Sukdevpur in Malda's Baishnabnagar, amid growing concerns over infiltration.

Although fencing work briefly resumed on Tuesday, it was halted again following a flag meeting between the two forces and has remained suspended since.