In what could be ominous portents for India-Bangladesh relations, especially in the post-August 2024 reality across the border, there has been a military build-up on either side of the international boundary in recent times.
Even as Bangladesh’s defence establishment has sought to upgrade the Lalmonirhat airbase, close to India’s sensitive ‘Chicken’s Neck corridor’ in the general Siliguri area, the Indian armed forces have responded in greater measure on both the western and eastern sides of this Second World War vintage air force station.
The Bangladesh Air Force’s “determined” efforts to restore and recalibrate defence assets at Lalmonirhat, which is about 16 kms – as the crow flies – from the ‘Chicken’s Neck’ by building a massive and modern hangar for fighter jets over the last six months, prompted the Indian army to raise and station two news bases, at Chopra in North Dinajpur and Bamunigaon near Dhubri in Assam.
There are unconfirmed reports that top officials from India’s national security bureaucracy visited the northern parts of West Bengal over the past several months to take stock of the military build-up. One of the Indian Army bases has come up in – “minimal timeframe” – at Chopra, which is no more than a kilometre away from Tetulia in Panchagarh district of Bangladesh’s Rangpur division. Tetulia is shaped like a single inverted comma that cartographically abuts into West Bengal’s North Dinajpur.
The second Indian Army base, for which the foundation stone was laid recently by Eastern Army Commander Lieutenant General R C Tiwari, will also follow the “minimal timeframe” objective. In fact, on November 6, the Eastern Command said in a post that Lt Gen Tiwari “visited the troops of #BrahmastraCorps deployed at #ChopraDefenceLand.
“He interacted with the troops & complimented their unwavering zeal, professionalism and tireless efforts in establishing and operationalising the base in a minimal timeframe. He urged them to maintain the highest standards of #OperationalPreparedness and to remain proactive in meeting evolving security challenges.”
During his visit to Chopra, Lt Gen Tiwari took detailed briefings from officers of the new unit. Later the same day, Lt Gen Tiwari, “along with GOC #BrahmastraCorps, 111 Area and Trinetra Division, visited the #Kishanganj Military Camp to review #OperationalPreparedness”. Kishanganj, in Bihar, is in close proximity to the ‘Chicken’s Neck’.
Lt Gen Tiwari’s next spot visit was to the “#LachitBorphukan Military Station at #Bamunigain, #Dhubri, #Assam”, where he “reviewed the #OperationalReadiness, internal security situation and ongoing infrastructure development by the formation”.
After meeting the Chopra MLA Hamidul Rahman, Lt Gen Tiwari reaffirmed “the importance of military-civil cooperation in fostering security and development in the region”.
Similar civil-military liaison exercises have been conducted in villages across the border in Bangladesh’s North Bengal districts, particularly Lalmonirhat and Thakurgaon where there is an old airbase, though it is smaller than the one where a new hangar is nearing completion.
ALSO READ: Bangladesh set to install new air defence radar system near India’s ‘Chicken’s Neck’
Northeast News had reported on November 6 that the Bangladesh defence forces, including the BAF and the Army, were coordinating their actions to install a new radar which, in all likelihood, has been imported from China. While work on the hangar was nearing completion – the roof has been laid, while the bay walls are being fixed – there are reports that a facility is also being built under the new hangar. On another side of the Lalmonirhat airbase, new residential quarters have been built.
