Border firing heats up Dhaka

According to BSF sources,Motiur Mondal and Mominoor Rahman of Birampur of Bangladesh’s Dinajpur district were shot after a group of 50-60 alleged Bangladeshi criminals tried to sneak into India through the unfenced patches at Gobindapur village in Hilli area of South Dinajpur district in India. After the gang was apprehended by the BSF jawans on duty,they attacked the BSF jawans which prompted the BSF jawans to open fire at the group. “Our jawans asked the gang of cattle smugglers to surrender. But they tried to snatch the weapons of our jawans and tried to drag one of our jawans to Bangladesh side. To save the jawans the BSF jawans on duty opened fire at them in which two Bangladeshi criminals were killed,” said a senior BSF officer.

The Bangladeshi media,on the other hand,have a different version of the incident. They say that the BSF troops at Gobindapur camp opened fire “on several Bangladeshi cattle traders at Daudpur of Katla union in Birampur upazilla.”

According to sources,BSF fired a couple of shots during the incident. At a flag meeting between the two border forces in Daudpur area on Monday afternoon,Bangladesh protested the killings and demanded return of the bodies.The Indian side assured Bangladesh of returning the bodies.

In another incident,BSF jawans patrolling at the Narayanganj border outpost in Cooch Behar district opened fire after a group of 40 to 50 villagers tried to illegally cross over to India. According to BSF officers,stones were pelted on them after the jawans tried to chase them away from the border. After the clash,the local police and BSF recovered the body of a Bangladeshi national. However,the BSF alleged that he was killed by the criminals due to personal enmity. In Bangladeshi media,it has been said that BSF jawans opened fire at “Alamgrin while he went near the border to respond to nature’s call.”

“In all the above incidents ,BSF has ordered an inquiry and urged the jawans to exercise utmost restraint. But we also expect cooperation from the Border Guards of Bangladesh as far as the joint border management is concerned,” added the official.