New Delhi: The Border Security Force (BSF) has held a flag meeting with the Bangladesh Border Guards (BBG), a day after a large number of villagers from the neighbouring country crossed over the border and assaulted two BSF personnel, officials familiar with the development said.
During the meeting at BSF’s south Bengal frontier on Monday, the BBG returned two guns — an INSAS rifle and a Beretta pistol — that the mob snatched from the BSF personnel on Sunday, said officials aware of the meeting.
The meeting was attended by the commandants from both sides. Officials also said that during the meeting, BSF reminded its Bangladeshi counterpart that at least seven protest notes about villagers crossing over the “porous border” were issued by the BSF last year.
“At the flag meeting, we reminded the BBG about people from Bangladesh regularly trying to cross the border for smuggling, stealing crops or grazing their cattle. The villagers from Bangladesh, who come over to the Indian side, also deliberately damage their crops,” said an official, requesting anonymity. “Because of the repeated incidents, BSF had also temporarily set up a post at Nirmal Char in Murshidabad district under the BSF’s south Bengal frontier. The meeting was held to ensure that no such incident is repeated.”
On Sunday, two BSF personnel were assaulted when they stopped Bangladesh farmers from bringing their cattle into the fields in Indian side along the Padma river. On being stopped, around a “hundred villagers and other miscreants” crossed over the border and attacked the jawans with sticks and sharp-edged weapons. The mob fled to Bangladesh after snatching the weapons, which were handed back during the flag meeting, said officials.
The two BSF personnel were rushed to a nearby hospital, after additional forces of the BSF personnel reached the spot and chased the infiltrators.
Another BSF official, who asked not to be named, said the villagers and other miscreants target BSF personnel because they are unsuccessful in their attempts to smuggle prohibited items across the border.
“After repeated complaints by Indian farmers of villagers from Bangladesh stealing crops or damaging their fields, a forward post has also been set up,” the official said. “BSF personnel are targeted because the miscreants are unable to continue their illegal activities. We have had a record seizure at the border which shows we have thwarted their activities. For example, in the south Bengal frontier alone, we had a record seizure of 114 kg gold in 2022, which was the highest in at least five years. The figure in 2021 was 30.49 kg, 33.04 kg in 2020 and 7.16 kg in 2016.”
