 In 1971, millions of citizens of Bangladesh – then called East Pakistan – fled the abuses of a civil war and associated genocide between East Pakistan and West Pakistan triggering mass illegal migration into Assam, West Bengal, various other nearby states of India as well as Myanmar.According to the Assam Accord, the Government of India agreed to secure the international border against future infiltration by the "erection of physical barriers like walls, barbed wire fencing and other obstacles at appropriate
places" and deploying a patrol by security forces on land and river routes all along the international Bangladesh-India border.To aid this effort, the Government also agreed to build a road near the border for the patrol and quicker deployment of Indian security forces, as well as maintain a mandatory birth and death list of citizens.