KOLKATA: Security forces from India and Bangladesh engaged in a tense standoff this week over the construction of a fence supposedly aimed at preventing cattle from crossing their shared border, officials said on Saturday.
Relations between the two countries are fragile following the August 5 ouster of Bangladesh's autocratic former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, who is now in exile in India after a student-led uprising ousted her.
New Delhi was Hasina's biggest backer and benefactor and many Bangladeshis have since openly criticised their larger and more powerful neighbour for backing her 15-year rule.
The latest row erupted on Thursday when India's Border Security Force (BSF) claimed that their Bangladeshi counterparts had prevented them from erecting the fence.
“Tensions escalated after Bangladeshi border guards tried to block the construction of a cattle fence,” said BSF Deputy Inspector General AK Arya. AFP.
“But there was no violence.”
Bangladesh is almost entirely surrounded by India and the border stretches for more than 4,000 kilometres (2,485 miles), large parts of which are unfenced.
Indian officials say the fence was being built as part of a 2012 agreement to prevent cows from both sides from crossing the border or being stolen, according to local media reports.
Cattle smuggling has been a source of tension between the two countries, but AFP The purpose behind the fence's construction could not be independently verified.
