BGB Commander announces halt to BSF's barbed wire fence construction at Chapainawabganj border until further agreement.
Tensions have been rising among local people since Monday over the construction of a barbed wire fence by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) at the Sukdebpur border in India, opposite the Chouka border in Shibganj upazila, Chapainawabganj.
On Wednesday, a flag meeting was held between the Bangladesh Border Guard (BGB) and BSF at the battalion commander level at the Chouka border at around 2:30pm.
Lieutenant Colonel Golam Kibria, Commander of the 59 BGB Battalion, said: "Problems arose when the BSF started constructing the barbed wire fence without any coordination with the BGB on Monday. Today, the Battalion Commander-level flag meeting was attended by the Commander of BSF's 139 Battalion. The meeting decided that the construction of the barbed wire fence would stop until an agreement is reached. There will be a sector commander-level meeting at the Sonamoshjid border today."
Earlier, on the night of Tuesday, a press release from the 59 BGB Battalion revealed that on Sunday, the BSF's 119 Battalion, based at the Sabdalpur camp, began soil excavation work for the construction of a barbed wire fence about 100 yards inside India from border pillar 177/2-S in the Chouka field area, GR No 047372 MS 78 D/2.
Upon learning about this, the BGB patrol team at Chouka border intervened through a flag meeting and stopped the work.
On Monday, at around 11am, the BSF resumed soil excavation for the construction of the fence.
The BGB intervened again and stopped the work, but the BSF continued with the construction with the help of local residents and deployed additional labour to complete the work.
In protest of this, the Commander of the 59 BGB Battalion and the Sector Commander of BGB Rajshahi visited the site and organized a flag meeting with BSF officials.
According to the meeting's decision, the BSF withdrew additional personnel and civilians and halted the construction work.
The situation in the area is now calm.
To control any potential situations, the BGB is maintaining a vigilant position.
Ruhul Amin, Chairman of the Binodpur Union Parishad in the Chouka border area, along with Union Parishad member Mohammad Badsha and local residents, said that when people saw the BSF constructing the barbed wire fence across the border on Monday, tensions rose among the local people.
They gathered and raised anti-India slogans.