‘Not afraid of barbed wire,’ says Bangladesh as WB CM Suvendu announces strict border fencing

On Monday, new Bengal CM said fencing was crucial for national security. Bangladesh PM's foreign affairs adviser says the country will not bow down over border issues.

File photo of BSF personnel keeping vigil along the India-Bangladesh border | ANI

New Delhi: Bangladesh will no longer bow down over border issues unlike in the past, Humayun Kabir, the foreign affairs adviser to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, told reporters Monday after the newly elected West Bengal government announced that it would accelerate barbed-wire fencing along the border.

“We will not bow down. The borders will not be what they were during the Hasina era. This Bangladesh is no longer the Bangladesh of that difficult period. We will not remain passive observers anymore. The country has its own plans,” Kabir told reporters in Bangla. “If people are killed and pushed across the border, as we saw during Hasina’s time, the borders will not return to that condition. We will not sit and watch.”

“The people of Bangladesh are not afraid of barbed wire. The government of Bangladesh is not afraid of barbed wire either. Where we need to speak, we will,” he added.

His remarks came hours after West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced that his government would transfer land to the Border Security Force (BSF) within 45 days to facilitate new fencing projects along the border with Bangladesh.

India and Bangladesh share a border stretching 4,096.7 km, out of which 3,232.218 km has been covered with a fence, according to a government release in February 2025. Nearly 173.81 km of the border is considered unsuitable for fencing because of difficult terrain and other geographical constraints.

Indian authorities say the remaining work has been slowed by a range of obstacles, including land acquisition disputes, objections raised by Bangladesh border authorities, short construction seasons, and challenging conditions such as landslides and marshland.

In January 2025, fencing work along unfenced sections was temporarily suspended amid concerns that construction could heighten tensions between the two countries.

The decision followed a confrontation earlier between BSF and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in the Sukdevpur area of West Bengal’s Malda district. The dispute erupted after Indian personnel attempted to install a single-row barbed-wire fence, prompting objections from Bangladeshi authorities.

On Monday, Suvendu said that the fencing move was crucial for national security. The Bengal CM also alleged that the previous government had delayed the process to protect illegal infiltrators.

Kabir, however, dismissed the announcement as partly a product of campaign politics, suggesting that rhetoric used during elections did not always translate into governance. “Election rhetoric can often be extreme,” he said. “But governing in reality is a different matter.”

He added that Bangladesh’s relationship was primarily with India’s central government in New Delhi, not with individual state administrations. “Dhaka do not wish to interfere in India’s domestic politics.”

Indian officials describe the fencing project as a key security measure aimed at curbing cross-border crime, including smuggling, trafficking and the movement of criminal groups. New Delhi has said it continues to follow all existing agreements and border protocols established between the two governments, as well as between BSF and BGB.

Despite the tensions, Kabir stressed that both governments remained committed to maintaining dialogue. “There will be challenges, and in some cases major ones,” he said. “But when the door to dialogue remains open, initiatives can be taken to resolve them.”

Earlier last week, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman before a visit to China had said that Dhaka will look to Beijing for investment and projects in the Teesta river— the dispute over which stretches to four decades between India and Bangladesh. In 2011, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee had stalled a proposed water sharing agreement between both countries.

“Bangladesh cannot just sit idle,” Rahman told reporters in Dhaka, adding that the Teesta project would “certainly” be discussed during his meetings in Beijing, where he is scheduled to hold talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi among others.

Post Rahman’s return, Kabir suggested that a longstanding obstacle to negotiations over the Teesta water-sharing agreement might now be easing. “Now the BJP is in power both at the Centre and in the state. We hope there will now be fewer obstacles.”

He also highlighted Bangladesh’s growing relationship with China, describing Beijing as an “important bilateral partner” and signaling that ties could deepen further under Tarique Rahman’s government.

Kabir added that China’s Exim Bank would finance the long-discussed Teesta project, though he cautioned that additional studies and negotiations were still required before construction could begin.

Earlier reports suggest Rahman too was expected to visit China in June, after Khalilur Rahman’s visit.  Kabir, however, added that while PM Rahman was expected to visit Beijing at some point, no date had been finalised. “As China is an important partner, the prime minister will certainly visit Beijing,” he said.

(Edited by Tony Rai)