The border areas of Kurigram remained tense throughout 2025, marked by repeated push-ins, surveillance activities and sporadic security incidents along the Bangladesh–India frontier.
Although Kurigram is a single district, border duties there are divided between Lalmonirhat’s 15 Battalion and Jamalpur’s 35 Battalion of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), with forces from three districts jointly overseeing more than 500 kilometres of frontier.
Throughout the year, Indian and Bangladeshi nationals were repeatedly pushed towards the border in disputed incidents, escalating tensions in areas such as Rowmari, Rajibpur and Sonahat, which remained in the spotlight for much of the year.
According to compiled data, at least 12 Indian nationals were pushed into Bangladesh by India’s Border Security Force (BSF) during the year, although BGB said they were later pushed back across the border through established procedures.
The first major incident of the year occurred on the night of 9 February, when BSF installed a closed-circuit camera on a tree in no-man’s land near Sub-Pillar 9S at the South Bashjani border of Bhurungamari Upazila, prompting formal protests from BGB.
Following several meetings, the commander of the BSF’s 162 Battalion assured Bangladeshi counterparts on 11 February 2025 that the camera would be removed, which was later done.
On 14 February 2025, BSF members were accused of entering Bangladeshi territory near Main Pillar 930 at the Gorkamandal border in Phulbari Upazila, where five Bangladeshis were reportedly beaten after protesting the intrusion, leaving them injured.
Tensions escalated again on the night of 28 May 2025 at the Rowmari border, when BSF allegedly attempted to push several individuals into Bangladesh after switching off border lights, an incident during which locals reported hearing a cocktail explosion, a claim denied by BGB.
Local Union Parishad member Shafiqul Islam said residents raised alarms after seeing BSF bringing people towards the border, adding that an explosion occurred when the push-in attempt failed.
However, Rowmari Sadar Company Commander Subedar Sohel Rana said BSF vehicles were seen near the barbed-wire fence but denied any push-in attempt or use of explosives.
A day later, on the night of 30 May 2025, heightened tension spread across a one-kilometre stretch of the Nageshwari border under Kedars Union, where thousands of locals formed a human chain overnight to prevent another alleged push-in attempt.
Local sources said BSF members from Golakganj police station in Assam’s Dhubri district had gathered 50 to 60 people in a school near the border for a planned push-in, which ultimately did not take place.
The commander of Kurigram-22 Battalion of BGB, Lieutenant Colonel Mahbub-ul-Haq, later confirmed the incident.
Towards the end of the year, fresh allegations surfaced on 28 December 2025, when three Indian nationals were reportedly pushed into Bangladesh through the Charboalmarie border under Rowmari Upazila.
They were identified as Ayesha Begum, 52, Rustam Ali, 66, and Idris Ali, 46, and BGB said they were immediately pushed back to India.
Earlier, on 24 December 2025, nine Indian nationals, including three women, were allegedly pushed into Bangladesh through the Dholuabari border in Nageshwari Upazila, although BGB maintained that they were returned the same way.
Shariful Hasan, associate director of BRAC’s Migration Programme and Youth Platform, described such incidents as inhumane, citing a recent case involving a pregnant Indian woman, and said pushing citizens across borders undermines both human rights and bilateral relations.
Writer and organiser Nahid Hasan said the push-ins appeared to disproportionately target Muslim Indian nationals, particularly from Assam, warning that continued incidents could heighten instability across the Rangpur division.
In a written statement issued through his headquarters, Kurigram-22 Battalion Commander Lieutenant Colonel Mahbub-ul-Haq said BGB has strengthened patrols, increased manpower, expanded intelligence operations and coordinated with local volunteers to prevent push-ins and illegal crossings along sensitive border points.
