1979 Bangladesh-Indian skirmishes

The 1979 Bangladesh-India skirmishes were a series of armed skirmishes and border firing between Bangladesh and India from November to December 1979. The skirmishes took place between troops of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and the Border Security Force (BSF) on the poorly-marked international border between the two countries.

''The clashes began on 1 November. When for more than a month, India and Bangladesh had engaged in a gunbattle at the border town of BeIonia in northeastern India. Bangladesh Rifles had fired nearly a hundred rounds into a river islet at Belonia, a small subdivisional town in South Tripura. While three companies of the Bangladesh Rifles have been deployed to man a single border outpost, about as many troops now guard the 50 km railway track between Belonia railway station which is in Feni - the principal town of the Bangladeshi district of Noakhali. ''

Background
Years after the victory of the Battles of Belonia Bulge by the Mukti Bahini and allied Indian troops. The Belonia issue was almost settled in 1974 when Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman agreed to the general principle of watershed. It was decided that in all cases of river line boundaries the midstream would be regarded as the border. And that both sides would take steps to ensure that the rivers did not change their course, unfortunately it was not settled.

Cause
The joint boundaries commission was to meet in the first week of November to finalise the Belonia border within the framework of the Indira-Mujib agreement. Officials of the two countries held a flag meeting. However, on 15 August 1975 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family was killed, and Zia became president in 1977, and in 1977, Indira Gandhi lost the election, years later, in October 1979, Bangladesh said, it should be regarded as no-man's-land and farmers on the Indian side should be refrained from harvesting in no-man's-land. The Indian side did not agree, Indian peasants began harvesting the paddy they had sown. Bangladesh Rifles and the Border Security Force both exchanged fire in the beginning days of November, thus starting intense gunbattles between the two sides.

Conflict
Bangladesh Rifles and Indian Border Security Forces exchanged fire near the Comilla-Tripura border throughout the entire month of November to December 1979. The shooting appears to have become a habit with the soldiers on both sides. A joint survey team of India and Bangladesh visited the area and watched bullets flying across the disputed land for 90 minutes. No fatalities or injuries were reported.

Aftermath
After the three-day talks, the two delegations issued a brief joint statement in which, both sides have agreed to exercise maximum restraint and avoid provocation to ensure the return of normalcy in the Muhuri Char area of the Belonia sector on the Tripura-Comilla border. This merely means that the two sides will not resort to exchange of firings on the disputed 44-acre stretch of land.

Exchange of firing ended, but the talks had later partially failed. Gunbattles in Belonia continued till 1985.