By Anish Singh
Siliguri, July 18 (UNI) Border Security Force on Thursday rejected as “entirely incorrect” its Bangladeshi counterpart’s charge about involvement in killing Bangladeshi nationals along the international boundary.
'The BSF is a professional force and after adopting non-lethal strategy along the international border the number of killings have gone down. The claims of Border Guard of Bangladesh (BGB) is entirely incorrect,' BSF’s North Bengal Frontier DIG Mridul Sonowal told reporters here.
Two days ago, BGB’s North Western Region Commander Brigadier Jalal had told visiting Indian mediapersons that the killings along the border had gone up this year.
In 2011, the country’s first line of defence force had adopted the non-lethal strategy as part of Confidence Building Measure between both the forces.
Non-lethal
Under non-lethal strategy, the BSF is using pump action gun and different types of grenades, including stun, chilli and dye in an effort to prevent drugs and cattle smugglers entering into Indian territory.
It is pertinent to mention here that a huge number of cattle were being smuggled into Bangladesh although they have declined in the past five years.
On being asked about the outcome of non-lethal strategy, the BSF officer said its very effective as the death counts have declined in comparison to the 2010-11 figures.
'Over 95 per cent of killing has come down due to usage of non lethal weapons. It’s very effective. It’s a weapon which makes less lethality. Before 2011, the killing was over 100 every month but it has reduced to maximum 2-3 a month,' Mr Sonowal said.
About killing of smugglers around the international boundary, Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan in Parliament had alleged that the BSF had killed 294 civilians since a decade.
Smugglers
The 12-bore pump action gun and grenades deter smugglers and criminals trying to transgress into the Indian border as well as those who try to enter into Bangladesh border, BSF Deputy Commandant Kunwar Singh Mahto said.
'The pump action gun is a very effective weapon in tackling the smugglers as it scare the criminals to stay away. The pellets hit the target up to 25 metres,' Mr Mahto said.
Since 2011, over 800 BSF personnel were injured in numerous attacks carried out by the miscreants along the borders.
This year till June, 45 soldiers were injured by smugglers.
Few days back, a BSF soldier lost his hand and suffered serious injuries in a bomb attack by Bangladeshi cattle smugglers.
As part of CBM, a 15-member delegation of journalists visited Bangladesh, aiming to enhance the bilateral ties between both the nations. The delegation was led by BSF PRO Shubhendu Bhardwaj in coordination with his Bangladeshi counterpart BGB Major Mizam.
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