Big Setback For Bangladesh As India Restricts Port Access To Key Bangladeshi Imports

New Delhi: India has imposed port restrictions on the import of ready-made garments, processed food, and other goods from Bangladesh with immediate effect. The order has been issued by Director General of foreign trade.

The government has suspended port access to various Bangladeshi consumer goods through land transit posts in the northeast, leaving Kolkata and Nhava Sheva sea ports as the only available entry points.

This latest move by New Delhi, which came in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, is expected to impact Bangladesh’s trade and economy.

List of Bangladeshi items restricted from land port access:

• Ready-made garments
• Plastics
• Wooden furniture
• Carbonated drinks
• Processed food items
• Fruit-flavored drinks
• Cotton
• Cotton yard waste

These items can no longer enter India through land customs routes and check posts, including Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura, Mizoram, Phulbari, and Changrabandha in West Bengal, for imports to other nations.

Earlier, the government scrapped the trans-shipment of Bangladeshi export cargo to other nations through Indian airports and ports, and today's decision is being seen as a follow up to earlier move.

India's action to restrict Bangladeshi goods has come in retaliation to Dhaka restricting several Indian value added items through land transit routes.

There are a total of 11 land transit points in northeast for trade between India and Bangladesh. Among them, three are in Assam, two in Meghalaya and six in Tripura.

Bangladesh ‘dirty’ games against India major cause for fallout in ties 

Ever since the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina following a military coup, Bangladesh has been in turmoil. The nation has been taken over by a radical extremist regime under the leadership of interim chief Muhammad Yunus.

Under Yunus, and following Sheikh Hasina's removal, atrocities against minorities, especially Hindus, have escalated to alarming levels.

Individuals with a jihadi extremist mindset have attacked hundreds and thousands of Hindus, vandalising temples, looting shops, and invading homes, among other acts of violence.

Bangladesh has further attempted to provoke India by seeking strategic cooperation with China.

Following the Pahalgam terror attack, while the Indian government was conducting high-level meetings to strategise against Pakistan before launching Operation Sindoor, a provocative statement from Bangladesh drew attention when a former official spoke about waging war with India and occupying its Chicken Neck region.

India has both formally and informally urged the Bangladeshi leadership under Muhammad Yunus to address the issue of security to minorities especially Hindus while also taking non-kinetic actions that could economically impact Dhaka.