Border Issues

India has a volatile neighbourhood and border issues remain hot with iridescent handling from both sides. Some 4,800 undocumented Bangladeshi nationals have been deported from West Bengal following the BJP election victory in the state. Another 836 individuals are in holding centres in border districts, awaiting nationality verification and repatriation. Of the 90 lakh voters excluded in West Bengal by the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), 63% are Hindus and 34% are Muslims. As of July 1, 2026, West Bengal’s SIR tribunals facing 33 lakh appeals, have disposed of only 30,000 cases - less than 1% since they became operational. At this rate, it will take more than 25 years for the 19 tribunals to clear the backlog.

Bangladeshi Muslims who don’t qualify for asylum under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) are being deported. This has sparked an exodus of people crossing the border. Tension flared up recently in the Bilbari border area of Assam in a faceoff between India’s BSF and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) over an attempted push back. The BGB pointed guns and threatened the BSF, while dozens of Bangladeshis rushed to the border brandishing weapons and sticks. Tension still persists in the area.

On June 29, 2026, radicals broke into the Dattabari Sarvajanin Puja temple in the Mymensingh District of Bangladesh and vandalized the Kali and Lakshmi idols. In addition, authorities in Dhaka demolished a Kilkat area makeshift Durga Mandir citing land dispute. In mid-June 2026, the construction of an 81-foot Lord Ram statue in the Gaibandha district was halted following threats from radical groups. A newly raised Bangladesh Army battalion has named its four companies Umar, Abu Bakr, Ali and Usman (after distinguished companions of Prophet Muhammad) indicating growing Islamisation.

The 1,643 km India-Myanmar border under the 1967 India-Myanmar Boundary Agreement remains physically un-demarcated in several key areas; specifically, nine unresolved Boundary Pillars (BP) in the Manipur sector (mainly in Ukhrul and Chandel districts) and the India-China-Myanmar trijunction near Diphu Pass. The border cuts through the ancestral lands of ethnic tribes (like Nagas and Kuki-Zo) who share deep socio-cultural ties.  

The narcotics-producing ‘Golden Triangle’ region at the tri-junction of Myanmar-Laos-Thailand, makes northeast India a haven for drug trafficking; drugs are pouring into India (Manipur and Mizoram two primary gateways) and are also being sent from India to Myanmar for refining. Myanmar provides high-quality heroin and there is a surge in industrial-scale methamphetamine trafficking. The politico-bureaucratic-police-drug cartels nexus is well established; annual drug trade in Nagaland was assessed at INR 10,000 crore few years back and INR 50,000 crore in Manipur according to a 2024 report. The government’s decision to make the entire northeast free of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) will provide a boost to this nexus. India plans an INR 31,000 crore project to fence the entire Indo-Myanmar border but guarding it will be a herculean task.

The US has a stake in India’s northeast. India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested US national Matthew Aaron VanDyke and six Ukrainians for crossing India to enter Myanmar for training armed insurgents in drone warfare and supplying weapons. However, US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor has reportedly secured their release. American mercenary VanDyke was also seen operating in Bangladesh during the CIA-orchestrated Gen-Z coup in 2024.

India-Nepal relations received a boost with the recent visit of Ravi Lamichhane, Chairman of Nepal’s Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) to India, followed by Nepal’s Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal, bodes well for developing bilateral relations; focused on trade, connectivity, and resolving outstanding border issues bilaterally. These visits were in the backdrop of Nepal’s new government under Prime Minister Balendra Shah (nicknamed Balen) officially objecting to India’s decision to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through Lipulekh Pass, and Balen wanting Chinese and British involvement in the issue. Earlier this year, China and India agreed to resume border trade through, Lipulekh, Shipki La Pass and Nathu La passes. But while border trade has resumed through Shipki La and Nathu La, China is mum about Nepal not allowing use of Lipulekh Pass.

It is important to note that Sergio Gor (described as “Mini Trump” by Washington-based journalist Seema Sirohi) went out of his way to hold discussion with Ravi Lamichhane. Leaked files have revealed that the US funded the Gen-Z   shadow army of Nepalese youth through NGOs, digital media and a leader chosen through an informal social media poll, in addition to CIA machinations, America's overt agencies like USAID, NED and IRI to school scores of Nepalese youths in strategies and skills prior to the mob violence that overthrew the government of Nepal in September 2025. The US factor in Nepal is not in India’s interest, especially because Washington wants an India-China war to advance America’s strategic and economic interests.

Chinese intrusions in Arunachal Pradesh are periodic, some examples of which are as under: 

• In December 2017, Chinese road construction was discovered in the Tuting area 1.25 km across the LAC into Indian Territory. Indian troops were rushed to the area and a flag meeting was held on January 6, 2018, leading to a pullback of the Chinese.
• In 2019 and 2020, BJP MP from Arunachal Pradesh, Tapir Gao told Parliament China has been making deep intrusions in Arunachal Pradesh, specifically in the Upper Subansiri district. In January 2021, he told the media Chinese activities include construction of a new double-lane road, which is still going on. According to him, China has entered more than 60-70 km inside the upper Subansiri district following the path along the Lensi River.
• In 2020, China abducted five youth from Arunachal Pradesh and released them after a long time after torturing them for information.
• In January 2021, a newly constructed Chinese village was reported on the banks of the River Tsari Chu in Upper Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh. This led to anti-China protests, burning effigies of Chinese President Xi Jinping, and All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) condemning China’s expansionism and Centre’s lethargic and non-committal approach. The Centre neither admitted nor denied whether the Chinese village is in Indian Territory.
• In November 2021, mainstream media reported that China had built a second village (cluster of some 60 buildings) in Shi Yomi district of Arunachal Pradesh (between March 2019 and February 2021) approximately 6 km within India.
• In September 2024, PLA troops intruded some 60-km inside Indian territory in Anjaw District and camped in the Kapapu area for about a week.
• In June 2026, the Nah tribal community of Arunachal Pradesh has voiced serious concerns over Chinese PLA incursions in Upper Subansiri district, claiming significant portions of their ancestral grazing and hunting lands (Oying, Paniar, Marpan, Potrang Lake, and Tindingtang) near Taksing have been occupied over the past six years.

In the above context, imageries shared by Indian news, geolocated and mapped, compared to the Survey of India (SoI) boundary, shows a location under development since 2024 - linked to a new village that was constructed in 2019-20 that lies within the Survey of India (SoI) map boundary – inside India.

The media cites the Army denying intrusions as claimed by the Nah tribal community, but the Army must abide by what the political hierarchy wants. The trend in India has been to ignore PLA intrusions/construction activity in Arunachal Pradesh, on the basis that the LAC is not designated and marked on the ground. Brahma Chellaney says China is steadily redrawing the LAC on the ground, not through dramatic offensives, but one military outpost, one militarized frontier village, and one new road at a time. The reported Chinese encroachments in the eastern Himalayan sector illustrate its longstanding salami-slicing strategy. New Delhi can no longer afford to remain in denial.

Hu Shih, who served as China's ambassador to the US from 1938 to 1942, had said, “India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.” Compare this to: India not firing a single shot in response to PLA firing and advancing tanks on our positions in Ladakh in 2020; nudged by China, vacating Kailash Range in own territory; inability to show a single PLA prisoner in the Galwan Clash while China shows video clips of Indian soldiers bandaged taken prisoners.

The reason is quite obvious – hierarchical mortal fear of The Dragon. The diplomat-turned-politician External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar (with India’s USD 4 trillion economy and the fourth most powerful military) publicly says, “How can we fight with China? We’re smaller economy. They’re bigger economy, It’s a question of common sense.” How can this man be so sic?

It is no secret that India’s foreign policy is being scripted in Washington, specifically during Donald Trump’s second presidency; with Trump’s points man Segio Gor systematically hobnobbing with the political hierarchy and Jaishankar frequenting Gor’s office and residence. BJP leader Ram Madhav and former Army Chief General MM Naravane holding talks with Sherry Rehman of Pakistan in Colombo on the sidelines of an event organized by the London-headquartered International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS). The MEA has called the issue inconsequential and said veteran officers attending such events is routine. But Ram Madhav was BJP’s National General Secretary of the BJP from 2014 to 2020 and is a long-standing member of the RSS national executive. Naravane, whose autobiography is on hold for 15 years, has since been making conciliatory statements to cover up pusillanimity of the political hierarchy against China in 2020. With Donald Trump’s love for Pakistan, Gor is obviously pushing for India-Pakistan dialogue. Therefore, the speculation that names of Madhav and Naravane possibly were approved by the highest political authority. According to one report, Ram Madhav held four secret meeting with Pakistani officials, including one with an ISI officer. It is worth mentioning that the claim came from Karnataka Congress President BK Hariprasad and the response from Ram Madhav was that he had not attended any Track-2 dialogue with Pakistan meetings and the events, which he attended were public - The South Asia Dialogue event organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), where he was invited to speak at one session, after which he left.

92-year-old veteran soldier-scholar Lt Gen Harwant Singh writes that India’s foreign policy never seemed to have focussed on its immediate neighbours, while China has been gaining ever-increasing influence amongst all our neighbours, including Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan ,Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bangladesh (https://www.thecitizen.in/opinion/nepal-claims-indian-territory-under-chinas-influence-1319294). Little wonder then: Bangladesh signed a deal with China to develop the China-Bangladesh Mongla Port Economic Zone, which was earlier promised to India - Mongla is Bangladesh’s second-largest and second-busiest seaport after Chittagong, 188-km from Kolkata and located near the Sunderbans; Bangladesh PM Tarique Rahman says the Teesta project will be implemented at any cost; Chinese strategist Victor Gao says if India blocks water for Pakistan, China could restrict flow of Brahmaputra River flow into India; Pakistan has demolished a 125-year-old Gurdwara in Farooqabad (Pakistan) as if in sync with desecration of Hindu temples in Bangladesh.

Finally, it is quite obvious that India’s ‘Neighbours First’ policy needs a serious review, just as the slogan ‘Corruption-Free India’ (in a country soaked in corruption) has been dealt a kick in the face with a massive scam in Ram Mandir - Modi’s pet project.

The author is an Indian Army veteran. Views expressed are personal.