Dhaka: India is taking appropriate legal action against foreigners staying in India illegally, including Bangladeshi nationals, Border Security Force (BSF) director general Daljit Singh Chawdhary said in Dhaka on Thursday after conclusion of DG-level talks between the BSF and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).
“They are being dealt with as per the law of the land. All BD nationals who were found illegally entering India without any criminal intent are handed over to the BGB respectfully. During this period, we have handed over around 550 Bangladeshi nationals to the BGB. In cases when BGB could not verify the credentials, they were handed over to Indian agencies for deportation through an established mechanism,” Chawdhary said.
According to him, more than 2,400 cases of verification of Bangladeshi nationals are pending with the Bangladesh High Commission in Delhi.
“Some of them have been pending for more than 5 years. We have also requested BGB to take up the case with the relevant authorities to expedite the confirmation, so that they can be reunited with their families. If there are any instances of border violation by Indian nationals or Bangladeshi nationals, a well-established mechanism exists between both countries for deporting or handing over the nationals to each other,” the BSF DG said.
On the issue of firing on suspected smugglers and criminals along the Indo-Bangladesh Border by the BSF, Chawdhary said that the force has been following a non-lethal strategy for 15 years but things get out of hand at times when personnel face violent attacks from cross-border criminals.
“As many as 35 BSF persons were grievously injured in such attacks in the first six months of this year alone. Repeated and blatant violation of the international boundary, coupled with attacks on the BSF troops on duty inside the Indian territory, is a matter of extreme concern for us and not at all acceptable. BSF personnel fire only and only as a last resort in the face of an imminent threat to their lives, in self-defence, irrespective of the nationality,” Chawdhary said.
“Such unfortunate occurrences can be avoided if a proper fence is put in place on the border from both sides. This will stall transgressions into each other’s areas and minimise mishaps along the border. Border fencing does not have any defence potential and is a physical deterrence to curb transboundary crimes, which is beneficial to both nations. The Government of India, to stop such kinds of mishaps happening along the border, has spent thousand of crores of rupees in fencing, flood-lighting, and deploying electronic surveillance systems to counter such kind of transborder offenses that lead to unfortunate occurrences,” he added.
Deaths of Bangladeshi criminals in firing by the BSF along the Indo-Bangladesh Border was a major issue raised by the BGB during the conference.
“We have raised concerns over border killings. This was one of the most emphasised priority agenda points. We had a long discussion between both sides. As you have just heard from the BSF DG that the force fires only for self-defence. We have challenged that. However, at the end, both sides agreed to try their best to ensure no crossings take place, whether deliberately or inadvertently, and we try so that no loss of life takes place. We will try to implement these measures on the ground. We have requested the BSF authorities to do the same,” BGB director general Maj Gen Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui said.
