The decision of the government of the Indian state of Assam to provide licences for firearms to its inhabitants and indigenous people living near the Bangladesh border has raised security concerns for the people living in the bordering area in Bangladesh, according to security experts.
The experts also said that the Assam state government鈥檚 move would instigate violence along the border when border killings and push-ins by India were continuing.
On May 29, the Assam cabinet approved a special scheme to provide arms licenses to its original inhabitants and indigenous citizens living in the remote areas along the Bangladesh border and at the places where Bangladeshi Muslims are the majority, according to reports published in Indian newspapers.
In a recent development on August 6, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that his government was setting up a portal where indigenous people living in 鈥榮ensitive areas鈥� could apply for arms licences, according to several Indian media outlets鈥� reports.
The state government of Assam has taken the move when a lot of cross-border tensions are prevailing following the August 5, 2024 political changeover in Bangladesh.
The tensions involve push-ins, constructing barbed wire fences within 150 yards of the border, violating the international border laws, incidents of crude bomb explosions, firing sound grenades, flying drones, and opening fire along the Bangladesh-India border by the Border Security Force of India.
Non-government think-tank Foundation for Strategic and Development Studies senior research fellow Md Zahedur Rahman said that the Assam government had taken the move in a bid to disturb the neighbouring Bangladesh and threaten people living in bordering areas in Bangladesh near Assam. 聽
鈥業f the people belonging to the Khasiya community get arms, they will engage in conflicts with Bangladesh at the places where the BSF and other security forces remain absent. It is a policy of the central government of India, and the policy is being implemented by the state government,鈥� said Zahedur, who retired from the Bangladesh Army in 2018 as a Brigadier General.
He said that the arms license would increase instability among the Muslims living in Assam and the bordering people in Bangladesh near the state.
Since the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina regime on August 5, 2024, the day when she fled to India for shelter amid a mass uprising, border killings by the BSF happened every month except November in 2024, according to rights organisation Ain O Salish Kendra data.
According to the data, at least 34 Bangladeshis were killed by the BSF in the first year of the interim government.
At least 30 Bangladeshis became victims of border killing by the BSF in 2024 and the number was 31 in 2023, according to the statistics.
Several border killings were also committed by the Indian Khasiya people.
On November 6, 2024, Indian Khasia people shot a Bangladeshi youth to death along the Sylhet border.
On March 7 this year, another Bangladeshi youth was beaten to death by Khasias in India along the Sylhet border.
Former director general of Bangladesh Rifles, now renamed as Border Guard Bangladesh, ALM Fazlur Rahman said that Assam state government鈥檚 decision would increase border killings as people in the bordering areas in India, alongside BSF, were also involved in killing Bangladeshis.
鈥業 think that it will create further tension. The Indian BSF should discuss with the BGB before taking the move to provide arms to civilians in the bordering areas. As a neighbour, we want to maintain peace,鈥� said Fazlur.
The BGB spokesperson and deputy director general for communications, Colonel Mohammad Shariful Islam, was approached for comments at the BGB鈥檚 headquarters on Tuesday.
Colonel Shariful asked 抖阴精品 to provide written questions officially, saying that BGB director for operations Lieutenant Colonel SM Shafiqur Rahman would respond to the Question on Wednesday.
BGB headquarters, however, did not respond to 抖阴精品 questions till filing the report at about 10:00pm on Wednesday.
Home adviser retired Lieutenant General Jahangir Alam Chowdhury did not respond to 抖阴精品鈥檚 phone call and text message.
India has so far pushed 2,112 people, including 173 Rohingyas and Indian nationals, into Bangladesh since May 7 this year.
At least 50 Rohingyas registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in India were also pushed into Bangladesh.
Dhaka University鈥檚 Peace and Conflict Studies department chairman Sazzad Siddiqui said that India had taken the decision to increase tensions in the neighbouring countries.
He said that it was connected to a regional and strategic volatile situation for political and economic gains by selling arms under the excuse of protecting traditional security, leaving the human-centric security behind.
鈥楾he push-in issue is still relevant. When the law and order situation deteriorates, the arms licenses to common people would create a spillover effect, and local people would not have to look for security forces. You don鈥檛 know whether Indian agents are inside Bangladesh,鈥� Sazzad said.
He said that the Bengali-speaking people in Assam also had affection for Bangladeshis and it may create further instability on both sides of the border.
The 56th director general-level conference between the Border Guard Bangladesh and the Border Security Force will be held between August 25 and August 28 at the BGB headquarters in Dhaka.
The incidents of border killings and push-ins by the Indian security forces are expected to be high on the agenda.
According to the Bangladesh authorities, Bangladesh has 4,156 kilometres of border with India.
