Deeptiman Tiwary TNN
New Delhi: Government’s efforts to bring down casualty of Bangladeshi nationals on Indo-Bangla border are hurting its own Border Security Force (BSF). In the past three years, while casualty of Bangladeshis on the border has come down by over 60%, attacks on BSF personnel have gone up by over 100%.
Sources say, government’s insistence on use of non-lethal weapons against ‘cattle smugglers’ has emboldened them, and they are attacking BSF men with greater impunity. However, the force believes, there is no solution to the problem until India and Bangladesh reach some sort of an agreement to either curb cattle smuggling or legalise it altogether. According to government figures, in 2010, 32 suspected intruders were shot dead by BSF men on the Indo-Bangla border, while smugglers attacked 64 men from the force. Due to sustained high fatalities of its nationals, Bangladesh had been pushing for softer approach towards border guarding from India. In 2010, India had proposed and implemented the use of non-lethal weapons such as rubber bullets and pump action guns by the BSF against suspected smugglers.
The results were positive, and the next year Bangladeshi fatalities came down to only 11. However, injuries to BSF men rose to 150. So far this year, BSF has recorded six deaths of Bangladeshis and 100 injuries to its men on Indo-Bangla border.
HOLE IN BORDER SECURITY?
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