The killing of a Border Security Force (BSF) officer by Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) personnel on Saturday, when the chiefs of both paramilitary organisations were in a dialogue in Dhaka, has again brought to the surface the tensions that have existed between the two forces. After kidnapping an Indian citizen, the BDR reportedly lured BSF personnel for a meeting at the ‘zero line’ to settle their differences, entrapped them and opened fire. The BDR’s continuing opposition to the construction of a barbed wire fence along the Indo-Bangla border has reportedly led to the escalation of tensions. India has been keen to erect the fence to prevent illegal migration from across the border and transborder movement of North-East militants into India.

In April 2001, BDR men intruded into the East Khasi Hill district of Meghalaya and killed 16 BSF personnel. Their bodies were returned with injury and mutilation marks, and there was evidence of some of them having been shot at point blank range. Though the issue has been taken up at the level of the security agencies and through diplomatic channels, it has reared its head once again. The tenuous distinction between India’s internal security and external environments makes border management a critical component of national security. While there are internal causes for terrorism and insurgencies, a majority of these movements have survived and grown due to the encouragement they secure from neighbouring countries. These states and their intelligence agencies often support, train, arm and direct terrorists and criminal groups for their own geo-strategic ends.

The Bangladesh border is the longest land border that India shares with any of its neighbours. It covers a length of 4,095 km in West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura. The threats along this border are conditioned, to a large extent, by the terrain. This is compounded by the problem of illegal migration from Bangladesh. There has emerged a collusive network of smugglers, organised criminal and insurgent groups and Islamist extremists who operate in the region. Clearly such killings cannot be allowed to be repeated. New Delhi and Dhaka should settle the issues relating to border security and other outstanding differences, at the political and diplomatic level. Otherwise field commanders on either side would tend to take the law into their own hands with deadly consequences that would lead to a deterioration in the relations between the two countries.