After the publication of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) by the Indian government, a total of 445 Bangladeshi nationals returned from India in the last two months said Bangladesh’s paramilitary force chief on Thursday (02.01.2020).
Director-General Maj Gen Md Shafeenul Islam disclosed that Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) disclosed the figure during a press briefing here.
People those who had crossed the border illegally were arrested in 2019 from India to Bangladesh, about 1000 were in number, out of which 445 of them will be returning home in November and December said by Islam.
BGB came to know after verifying their identities through local representatives, that all the intruders are Bangladeshis stated by Islam, further he said that 253 cases were lodged against them for illegal encroachment, while initial investigations found that at least three of them were human traffickers.
The BGB Director also revealed that the trespassing did not create any tension between the border forces of Bangladesh and India.
Islam had visited India last week, where he said that the creation of the NRC is completely an “internal affair” of India and the cooperation between the border guarding forces of the two countries are running well.
The BGB will continue to do its work as it is being done for preventing illegal border crossings as per its authorization.
A BGB delegation was on a bilateral visit to India led by Islam, to hold DG-level border talks with its counterparts, the Border Security Force (BSF).
The meeting took place from 26th – 29th December 2019, during which a host of issues related to cross-border smuggling and activities of criminals and others along the 4,096-km-long front were discussed.
Responding to a question, Islam said there was no discussion held at the conference over the (NRC) issue.
He said during the five-day talks held in New Delhi, there was a discussion of preventive measures and the BGB demanded that the BSF should take effective steps to prevent killings of Bangladeshis sharply rose in 2019.
In 2019 the number of border killings was highest in comparison to the last four years. As per the calculation, the numbers of such unexpected deaths were 35,” the BGB chief said.
However, the BSF estimate of the casualty figure is much lower than their calculation.
Islam said the BSF is following the policy of maintaining maximum self-control and minimal use of force even after being attacked by “armed border offenders”.
In New Delhi, a statement was issued by the BSF last month after the conclusion of the DG-level talks said, for the deaths of Bangladeshi nationals on borders, BSF personnel on borders had strictly followed a non-lethal weapon policy.
Firing is applied only in self-defense, when BSF patrols are surrounded and attacked by dah’ (a sharp-edged weapon) etc. It was precisely said that the BSF does not distinguish between criminals based on nationality.
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