Image source: GM BABU
A woman is living under the open sky with a thin blanket on dry grass at the no-man's land i.e. zero line on the Bangladesh-India border.
At the same time, on both sides of the border, the soldiers of Bangladesh Border Security Force BGB and Indian Border Security Force BSF are adopting a strict stance.
For the last four days, the same situation has prevailed in the Pathar Char border area of Dewanganj Upazila of Jamalpur district, adjacent to the Bangladesh-India border.
This incident has sparked a debate. Many people are posting about this woman on social media and local media also.
In fact, the woman has been stuck at the zero line of the border since Tuesday morning. Neither Bangladesh nor India is ready to accept them as their citizens.
BGB says that India's Border Security Forces (BSF) had tried to force the woman to enter Bangladesh.
Local residents and Bangladesh Border Security Force had stopped their attempt to enter Bangladesh illegally.
Since then she is stuck on the zero line between the borders of the two countries. Even after five days of the incident, no country is ready to take responsibility for it.
End
Informal talks were also held between the border security forces of both the countries to resolve this matter, but no solution was found. Till Friday afternoon both sides were adamant on their stand.
Till the time of writing the news on this matter, there has been no reaction from BSF. This news will be updated upon receiving BSF's response.
questions about identity
Image source, SCREEN GRAB
Special stories selected for you by Nitin Srivastava
Learn more
In such a situation, this woman is forced to live in the open field, under the sky, every day.
The identity of this woman trapped in no man's land on the Bangladesh-India border has not been confirmed yet.
BGB and BSF are making contradictory claims on the issue of whether she is a citizen of Bangladesh or India.
But neither of the parties is allowing women to enter their area.
While talking to the people living around the Pathar Char border on Friday afternoon, it was revealed that after the incident, for the last few days, the local people had been delivering food items like rice, biscuits and bread to the woman. But even this was not possible on Friday.
For four days this woman is forced to live in inhuman conditions, enduring the sun and cold.
Some journalists of the local media had talked to the woman in the presence of border security forces of both the countries.
One of them, Jamalpur GM Fatiul Hafiz Babu, told BBC Bangla that the woman was unable to provide her definite address.
Mr. Babu said, "She has stated her name as Fuji Begum, father's name as Hanif and her age as about 30 years. Once she said that her home is in Pirozpur district of Bangladesh, then Jhalokathi and once Barishal."
Mr. Babu also claimed that there were inconsistencies in what the woman was saying.
He told BBC Bangla, "After seeing her and talking to her, she seemed unusual. She is living in inhuman conditions at the zero line. When she goes there, BSF stops her and when she comes here, BGB stops her."
On Friday afternoon, BBC Bangla also talked to some local residents of this area.
He told that for the first few days of the incident, it was possible to deliver some dry food to the woman, but this also stopped on Friday.
A resident of the area told BBC Bangla, "Many people are coming to the border to see the woman. In the last few days, we were able to go a little closer and see her, but on Friday it was not possible to even see her, nor were we able to give her food."
Local media person Farhad Reza claimed that after talking to the BGB, the local people were able to deliver dry food and water bottles to the woman for the last few days, but on Friday the BSF raised objection to this.
He told BBC Bangla, "Media personnel were able to take footage from the nearby area for the past few days for reporting, but since Friday the situation has completely worsened. They did not allow us to go near the area."
Jamalpur 35 BGB commander Lieutenant Colonel Hasanur Rahman told BBC Bangla, "She is not able to give us any concrete address. She is giving some incomplete information. Moreover, it is difficult to even have a normal conversation with her."
Border patrolling increased
Image source: Getty Images
The question of whether the woman present at the zero line in Pathar Char border area of Jamalpur is a citizen of Bangladesh or India has now become most important.
On this issue, Lieutenant Colonel Hasanur Rahman has said to adopt a strict stance on the border.
He said, "There is BSF and BGB on the border. The woman is sitting on the zero line like before. No solution has been found yet."
Rehman also claimed that the BGB had evidence that the Indian Border Security Force had tried to forcibly push the woman, who was in the no-man's land, towards Bangladesh.
He said, "They (BSF) say that she is a citizen of Bangladesh, whereas we are saying that she was pushed from India and sent here. We have evidence that they pushed her. But they do not want to accept it."
Rehman said that talks are going on with the border security force of the neighboring country on this issue.
He said, "There is constant contact between BGB and BSF. Talks are also taking place at the level of our officers."
However, no information has been given about whether there is any possibility of a flag meeting between the border security forces of the two countries in the case of this woman, who has been living at the zero line of the border in inhuman conditions for four days.
For this reason, the matter of removing the woman from the border still remains uncertain.
Earlier in June this year also, four people of a family, including two children, who were allegedly victims of push-in in Raumari border area of Kudigram, were rescued after 96 hours.
Apart from this, incidents of alleged push-in of a man named Shashti Chandra Barman from Kamalpur border area of Jamalpur and a youth from Zhaodanga border area of the same district had also given rise to widespread discussion.
India-Bangladesh relations
Image source, Screen Grab
There has been a decline in relations between Bangladesh and India since the change of political power in Bangladesh in the year 2024.
Since then, tension has been arising between the two countries from time to time due to various incidents occurring in the border areas.
In particular, the border security forces of both the countries have come face to face several times regarding incidents of illegal infiltration through the border.
Bangladesh has on several occasions accused the neighboring country India of forcibly making people cross the border and enter Bangladesh by pretending to be Bangladeshi citizens.
This process is called 'push-in'. However, BSF has always denied these allegations.
This issue has also been discussed several times in the National Parliament of Bangladesh. The government has also had to face questions from opposition parties on many occasions.
Recently in the National Parliament of Bangladesh, the country's Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed told that due to the strict stance adopted by the Border Security Force on the instructions of the government, the incidents of push-in from the neighboring country have reduced significantly compared to the tenure of the interim government.
He said that before the BNP government came to power, 2,482 people were pushed-in from India between January 1, 2025 and February 16, 2026.
But since then, till November 8 this year, the number of people pushed-in has come down to 37.
He said, "After the change of power in West Bengal, the scale of push-in efforts that were made along the entire border of Bangladesh, we faced them with great patience."
Furthermore, Ahmed claimed that the number of killings along the Bangladesh-India border has also reduced after the BNP government came to power.
Published by Collective Newsroom for the BBC.
Download the new BBC World Service app
Choose BBC News Hindi and get news alerts, live TV, podcasts... all in one place
Please note: The new app is not available in the UK and US.
short video
end of short video
