Bangladesh shuts mobile networks along borders with India

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has ordered a shutdown of mobile networks along the borders with India citing security reasons, an order estimated to affect around 10 million users.

The operators already suspended networks within one kilometre of the birders with India on Monday after receiving an order on Sunday night.

The four operators closed around 2,000 base transceiver stations, an official of an operator told bdnews24.com requesting anonymity.

“This will create problems for around 10 million users in the border areas,” the official said.                      

In the order to Grameenphone, Teletalk, Robi and Banglalink, the BTRC said network coverage in the border areas will have to be suspended until further notice “for the sake of the country’s security in the current circumstances”.

“A high-level meeting of the government took this decision, following which the instructions were issued,” BTRC Chairman Jahurul Haque told bdnews24.com, declining to give further explanations.

The instructions were “temporary”, he added.

TENSION IN INDIA OVER CITIZENSHIP

The exclusion of over 1.9 million people from a recently published list of citizens in the Indian state of Assam following years of scrutiny has triggered fears of their deportation to Bangladesh.

The government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been telling Bangladesh not to worry about the list, calling it an “internal matter” of India.

Concerns grew on both sides of the border after dozens of “Muslim Bangladeshi rag pickers” were reported to be transported to West Bengal for deportation in November.

In Bangladesh, the border guards detained 238 people, who entered Bangladesh through Maheshpur in Jhenaidah in November.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan admitted at the time that there had been attempts to deport people from India, but Bangladesh’s border guards thwarted the bids.

Bangladesh would receive the people only on confirmation that they were citizens of the country, he had said.

Weeks later, India brought amendment to its citizenship law that would offer citizenship to non-Muslims triggering widespread protests across India and worrying many people in Bangladesh.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen had said if any Bangladeshi nationals are found to have been living in India illegally, they will be brought back, reiterating that the National Register of Citizens is an internal issue of India.