Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel and local residents on Thursday night forced Indian Border Security Force (BSF)to abandon an attempt to excavate a canal alongside the Parshuram embankment in Feni’s Mirzanagar union.

Lt Col Mosharraf Hossain, commanding officer of the BGB’s Feni Battalion, said that BSF had brought excavators and other machinery to the embankment at around 11pm Thursday.

“To remove the water accumulated due to the dam on the Bangladesh side, they have made a thick drain on the Indian side. We protested against it as it falls within 150 yards from the zero line on the Indian side.”

This BGB commanding officer said that any construction in the no-man’s-land between the two countries is prohibited under bilateral law. “Because their proposed excavation site lay within no-man’s-land, we halted their work immediately.”

2 go missing amid inclement weather in Khagrachari rivers

Local resident Mamataj Mia (60) of Purbo Rangamatia village said that the BSF team arrived amid heavy rain and storm, attempting to dig some 20–30 yards inside the border pillar. “We joined the BGB on site and prevented them from proceeding. They withdrew soon after,” he said.

Another villager, MA Hasan, mentioned that the BSF intended not to breach the embankment itself but to reopen a previously dug canal segment. “As about 20 feet of that segment lay in no-man’s-land, the BGB intervened and stopped them,” he said.

Parshuram Upazila Nirbahi Officer Arifur Rahman warned that any unilateral alteration of the border watercourses would not be tolerated. “They tried to cut the ridge and release water into Bangladesh for their advantage. BGB and local people resisted successfully. We remain vigilant and will not allow such actions.”

Lt Col Mosharraf Hossain said that the matter would be discussed at BGB–BSF bilateral meeting.