1 crore users to be hit; it comes after anti-CAA protests in India

The Bangladesh Government has suspended mobile telephone services along the borders with India, citing security reasons. The expression “in the current circumstances” in the order is being linked to anti-CAA protests in India. The decision will affect around 1 crore mobile phone users in the area, according to media reports.

The telecom operators suspended the networks on Monday within one kilometre of the borders with India, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), in its order to telecommunications service providers —Grameenphone, Teletalk, Robi and Banglalink — on Sunday, said network coverage in the border areas should be suspended until further notice “for the sake of the country’s security in the current circumstances,” it said.

“A high-level meeting of the Government took this decision, following which the instructions were issued,” BTRC Chairman Jahurul Haque was quoted as saying by bdnews24.

A BTRC official was quoted as saying in the Dhaka Tribune that closure of around 2,000 base transceiver stations would affect 1 crore users in 32 districts sharing border with India and Myanmar.

According to the report, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen expressed ignorance over the Government’s decision.

“I do not have any such information. Let me know about it first and then I will comment,” Kamal said.

Brig Gen (retd) SM Farhad, secretary general of the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh, said, “Mobile network operators in Bangladesh are compliant with Government regulations; accordingly, the directive on border network coverage has already been implemented.”

This decision will certainly have an impact since a large segment of citizens in the border areas will be out of the range of the internet, voice and other services, he said.

The move by Bangladesh Government comes days after the Government here passed the Citizenship Amendment Act that seeks to grant citizenship to persecuted minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The CAA specifically seeks to grant citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from the three countries till December 31, 2014 following religious persecution there.

Reacting to the protests erupting in India over the CAA, Foreign Minister Momen on December 22 voiced concern that any “uncertainty” in India is likely to affect its neighbours.

He had said that Bangladesh has requested New Delhi to provide a list of Bangladeshi nationals living illegally in India, “if any”, to be repatriated.

He had also cancelled his visit to India beginning December 12, hours before he was to arrive in New Delhi on an official visit.

Bangladesh Home Minister had also cancelled his visit to India over the situation arising out of the passage of CAA.

Bangladesh was learnt to have been upset following the rollout of the NRC in Assam about four months back.

The NRC has been prepared to identify genuine Indian citizens living in Assam since March 24, 1971, or before, and identify illegal Bangladeshi migrants in the State.

Out of 3.3 crore applicants, over 19 lakh people were excluded from the final NRC published on August 30, 2019.