Survey stops due to obstruction by Indian tribesmen

India-Bangladesh joint survey on much-talked Dibir Haor border in Jaintapur upazila of sylhet district could not start yesterday due to obstruction created by the Indian tribesmen.
The Bangladesh officials first went to the border area at 10:35am but they returned after two hours as the Indians opposed the survey, claiming about 50 acres of Bangladesh lands as theirs.
The officials again went there at 2:50pm and returned at 3:35pm due to the same situation.
In presence of the officials of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and Indian Border Security Force (BSF), the Indians pressed for showing the 50 acres of Bangladesh land attached to the zero line as Indian territory without considering the border pillars, border sources said.
Turmoil appeared in Dibir Haor and Kendribil border in Jaintapur upazila as border guards of both sides exchanged fire on several occasions during months since February this year, causing injuries to about a hundred people.
Thousands of villagers remained away from their homesteads for days due to the situation.
The BDR foiled several attempts by Indian Khasia tribesmen to occupy the farmlands and wetland close to the border pillar No 1284 and around.
Meanwhile, the survey officials yesterday inspected the one kilometre area along the border pillar No 1270 S-1 to 1271 on Padua-Protappur border in Gowainghat upazila and exchanged some documents including area map, said Commanding Officer of 21 Battalion of the BDR, Lt Col Khairul Quadir.
"We are expecting some instruments from the capital to reach in a day or two for surveying the hill area," Gowainghat UNO Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, a member of the team, said.
The joint survey on Sylhet-Meghalaya borders started on December 7 on Lobhachhara borders in Kanaighat upazila and Sonarhat borders in Gowainghat upazila.
About 50 acres of lands on Dibir Haor and Kendri Beel area on Jaintapur upazila have been under the possession of Indians for about two years. Besides, 230 acres of lands on Protappur border had been under the Indians' possession for long. Even the Padua camp of the BSF was set up on the occupied land.
Land records officials of Bangladesh and India at a joint meeting on Tamabil International Check Post on November 29 set the programme for the joint survey. Most of the Sylhet-Meghalaya border is in remote hill areas with very poor link by roads or waterway.
"Survey teams started work on December 7 and it will continue till December 24. However, the time may be extended. The joint survey is to be done initially on 13 points," said Sylhet Deputy Commissioner Abu Syed Mohammad Hashim.
The decision came against the backdrop of longstanding disputes on the much-talked areas like Sonarhat, Lobhachhara, Dibir Haor, Sripur, Tamabil, Bichhnakandi, Protappur and Lalakhal in Sylhet, bordering the Indian state of Meghalaya.