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.
However, no details of the meeting of the Bangladeshi official with Indian officials were shared. There was no word from the Bangladeshi side also.
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Amid deepening strain in ties between the two nations, the Indian diplomat was summoned by the foreign office in Dhaka on Sunday following 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.
In a statement, the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry said Indian diplomat Verma was called to Ambassador Md Jashim Uddin’s office over the “recent activities of the Border Security Force (BSF)” 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 (BSF) of India along the Bangladesh-India Border.”
During the meeting with the Indian diplomat, the Bangladesh foreign secretary called the fencing at the India-Bangladesh border “unauthorised” and stressed that such activities “have caused tensions and disturbances along the border.”
