India summons Bangladeshi diplomat over border related issues, tensions

By Anjali Sharma

WASHINGTON – India on Monday summoned Deputy High Commissioner of Bangladesh Md Nural Islam to the foreign office, a day after Dhaka summoned Indian envoy Pranay Verma to express concern and raise ‘objections’ over fencing at the border.

According to the media no details of the Bangladeshi official with Indian officials were shared. There was no word from the Bangladeshi side as well related to the meeting.

The ties between the two nations have been stained lately.

The Indian diplomat was summoned by the foreign office in Dhaka on Sunday after allegations in the Bangladeshi media that India was attempting to construct barbed wire fencing at five specific locations along the over 4,000-km long Indo-Bangladeshi border.

Bangladesh Foreign Ministry in a statement said Indian diplomat Verma was called to Ambassador Md Jashim Uddin’s office over the “recent activities of the Border Security Force” along the Indo-Bangladesh border and told that New Delhi should avoid any “provocative actions that could escalate tensions along the shared border.”

It said, “Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Ambassador Md Jashim Uddin on Sunday expressed the deep concern of the Government of Bangladesh to the High Commissioner of India Pranay Verma at his office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over the recent activities of the Border Security Force of India along the Bangladesh-India Border.”

Bangladesh foreign secretary called the fencing at the India-Bangladesh border “unauthorised” and stressed that such activity “have caused tensions and disturbances along the border,” during the meeting with the Indian diplomat.