NEW DELHI: Highlighting the recent increase in infiltration attempts from the Bangladesh side, the Border Security Force (BSF) has raised its concerns at the recently concluded nodal-officer level Border Coordination Meeting (BCM) with the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) at the Integrated Check Post (ICP) Petrapole in West Bengal, officials said on Friday.
At the meeting the Bangladeshi delegation was led by Lt Col Md Anwarul Mazhar, the operations director and nodal officer and the Indian side was led by Nilotpal Kumar Pandey, the DIG (G), Frontier Headquarters, BSF, South Bengal Frontier, the officials informed.
Noting that such meetings are of critical importance in handling border guarding operations, particularly in view of the prevailing situation in Bangladesh, a senior BSF official said, this gave opportunity to both sides to understand issues of concerns along the 4,096-kilometer of the frontier.
The official said, “The Indian side expressed their concerns over increased activities relating to infiltration attempts, smuggling and human trafficking. Such attempts have gone up substantially, particularly in the backdrop of political and social unrest in Bangladesh.”
The BSF has also made it clear that infiltration attempts are a matter of grave concern and requested its counterpart to strengthen its security set-up along the borders on their side, the official said.
The Indian side in the meeting also suggested their counterparts from Bangladesh to curb the false narratives, which have been propagated to say that the BSF “is trigger-happy”, the official said, adding that the BGB officers assured that necessary action would be taken in this regard and prevent Bangladeshi nationals from crossing the zero line.
“It was made very clear in the meeting that the BSF is mandated to protect India’s borders and use whatever force is required to do so. Yet, BSF troops observe maximum restraint, often at the cost of life or limb. Firing is resorted to only when there is a threat to life or an attempt is made to snatch weapons,” the official said, adding that discussions were also held on human trafficking.