The 1979 Bangladesh-India skirmishes were a series of armed skirmishes and border firing between Bangladesh and India from November to December 1979. The skirmishes took place between troops of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and the Border Security Force (BSF) on the poorly-marked international border between the two countries.^[1][2]

Quick Facts Date, Location ...

1979 Bangladesh-India skirmishes
Date 1 November - 2 December 1979 (1 month, 1 day) Location Bangladesh-Indian Border (Belonia, South Tripura, Tripura, India/Comilla, Chittagong Division, Bangladesh) Result See Aftermath section Territorial changes Status quo ante bellum
Belligerents
Bangladesh	India
Commanders and leaders
Ziaur Rahman	Unknown
Units involved
Bangladesh Rifles	Border Security Force

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The clashes began on 1 November.^[1] When for more than a month, India and Bangladesh had engaged in a gunbattle at the border town of BeIonia in northeastern India.^[2][3][4] Bangladesh Rifles had fired nearly a hundred rounds into a river islet at Belonia, a small subdivisional town in South Tripura. While three companies of the Bangladesh Rifles have been deployed to man a single border outpost, about as many troops now guard the 50 km railway track between Belonia railway station which is in Feni - the principal town of the Bangladeshi district of Noakhali.^[1]

Years after the victory of the Battles of Belonia Bulge by the Mukti Bahini and allied Indian troops.^[5][6] The Belonia issue was almost settled in 1974 when Mrs Gandhi and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman agreed to the general principle of watershed. It was decided that in all cases of riverline boundaries the midstream would be regarded as the border. And that both sides would take steps to ensure that the rivers did not change their course, Unfortunately it was not settled.^[1]

The joint boundaries commission was to meet in the first week of November to finalise the Belonia border within the framework of the Indira-Mujib agreement. Officials of the two countries held a flag meeting. However, on 15 August 1975 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family was killed, and Zia became president in 1977, and in 1977, Indira Gandhi lost the election, years later, in October 1979, Bangladesh said, it should be regarded as no-man's-land and farmers on the Indian side should be refrained from harvesting in no-man's-land. The Indian side did not agree, Indian peasants began harvesting the paddy they had sown.^[1] Bangladesh Rifles and the Border Security Force both exchanged fire in the beginning days of November, thus starting intense gunbattles between the two sides.^[7]

Bangladesh Rifles and Indian Border Security Forces exchanged fire near the Comilla-Tripura border throughout the entire month of November to December 1979.^[2][1][3] The shooting appears to have become a habit with the soldiers on both sides. A joint survey team of India and Bangladesh visited the area and watched bullets flying across the disputed land for 90 minutes.^[2] No fatalities or injuries were reported.^[1]

After the three-day talks, the two delegations issued a brief joint statement in which, both sides have agreed to exercise maximum restraint and avoid provocation to ensure the return of normalcy in the Muhuri Char area of the Belonia sector on the Tripura-Comilla border. This merely means that the two sides will not resort to exchange of firings on the disputed 44-acre stretch of land.^[3][4]

Exchange of firing ended, but the talks had later partially failed.^[3] Gunbattles in Belonia continued till 1985.^[7]

• 2001 Bangladesh–India Border Clashes
• 2005 Bangladesh-India Border Clashes
• 2019 Bangladesh-Indian Border Clash
• 1958 East Pakistan-India Border Clashes
• Deaths along the Bangladesh–India Border
• Border Guard Bangladesh
• Border Security Force
• A. L. M. Fazlur Rahman