India has deployed extra troops along its border with Bangladesh after a political crisis in the neighbouring country brought down Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government.
Ms Hasina fled Bangladesh on Monday to India, where she spent the night. Her current whereabouts are unknown.
India has yet to formally address the situation, but the federal government has called opposition parties for a meeting.
India shares a 4,096 km (2,545 mi) border with Bangladesh and has close economic and cultural ties with the country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met on Monday to review the situation. Reports said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar may make a statement in parliament on Tuesday.
There are fears that the lingering tensions in Bangladesh could spill over into India, which has been seen as supporting Ms Hasina throughout her 15-year tenure despite her crackdown on dissent and jailing of opposition leaders.
Five Indian states share a border with Bangladesh, which was created in 1971 after a war with Pakistan. About 915.35 km of the border is unfenced, according to government data from November last year.
On the security front, Hasina’s tenure has been relatively peaceful for India as she has cracked down on anti-India militancy in her country. She has also granted transit rights to secure trade routes for states bordering Bangladesh.
Senior officials of India’s Border Security Force (BSF) visited the Bangladesh border in the eastern state of West Bengal on Monday to assess “the level of operational preparedness and strategic deployment of the BSF in these critical border areas”, a spokesperson said.
BSF (Traffic Police) speak “The government has strictly instructed not to allow anyone to enter the country without valid documents.”
Rail services between India and Bangladesh have been suspended “indefinitely” – they have been stopped since mid-July after violent protests broke out in Bangladesh.
India has also asked its citizens in Bangladesh to exercise “extreme caution”.
More than 4,500 Indians returned home in July with the help of diplomatic missions in Bangladesh.
On Monday, after Ms Hasina resigned, the northeastern state of Meghalaya imposed a night curfew along its border with Bangladesh.
In West Bengal, the state that shares the longest border with Bangladesh and has close linguistic and cultural ties, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has called for peace.
The movement of goods through the Petrapole land port on the border has also been halted. Hundreds of Indian trucks are reportedly stuck on the Bangladesh side.
A senior diplomat told the BBC on Monday that India “doesn’t have too many options at this point”.
“We must tighten border controls. Any other action will be considered interference.”
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