India-Bangladesh soldiers at border exchange sweets on 69th Independence Day

World Today

Security forces stationed along the Bangladesh border in Fulbari near eastern Siliguri city exchanged sweets with Border Guards Bangladesh on India’s 69th Independence Day on Saturday.

India achieved its independence from the colonial British rule on August 15, 1947, ending more than 200 years of the Raj.

Soldiers of India’s paramilitary Border Security Force were seen gifting boxes of traditional sweets to their BGB counterparts.

Inspector General of BSF’s North Bengal Frontier posted at Fulbari, Kamal N Choubey, said this humble gesture enhances relations between the two countries.

“Relations between India and Bangladesh are very strong and there are very few opportunities where one can show that our bond is strong. Two such occasions are Independence Day and Republic Day. As a goodwill gesture, we distributed sweets to the Bangladeshi soldiers today,” he said.

The exchange of sweets signifies promoting cordial relations between security forces of the two neighbouring countries and occasions like these help in finding solutions to problems faced by the security forces of both the countries.

India helped Bangladesh gain independence from Pakistan in 1971. Bangladesh’s Liberation War was a military conflict between East Pakistan (later joined by India) and West Pakistan in 1971 which established the Bangladeshi republic.

Meanwhile, in a departure from tradition, the BSF has decided that it will neither offer nor accept sweets and gifts from the Pakistani Rangers at the Wagah border, saying ‘prevailing situation’ along the border prevented the BSF from showing any “soft gestures” to the Pakistani Rangers.

Majority-Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan have fought three wars since becoming separate nations in 1947, two of them over Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part.

Reuters