BSF struggles to block terror-struck Bangladeshis fleeing homeland
Times of India | 8 August 2024
A group of Bangladeshis face off with BSF (not in pic) on the border in Berubari village, Jalpaiguri, on Wednesday PETRAPOLE/KOLKATA/JALPAIGURI: The continuing unrest in Bangladesh since Sheikh Hasina's resignation and flight to India on Monday is spilling over to Bengal's borders, with terrified Bangladeshis trying to flee their country, hoping to find shelter in India.
Late on Tuesday, a former Awami League (AL) MP from Kushtia II, Kamarul Arefin, was apprehended while trying to cross over to India through the Benapole-Petrapole border in North 24 Parganas, along with his wife and two daughters.They were sent back on Wednesday. North Bengal, in particular, witnessed an exodus of Bangladeshis along the international border on Wednesday: ordinary villagers, people from the minority Hindu community, AL supporters, all trying to cross over.
At one such border outpost, BSF had to even fire a warning round in the air, faced with a gathering of 200-odd villagers, who were trying to cross into Indian territory. At another border outpost, this one near Jalpaiguri, 600 Bangladeshis, mostly AL workers, are refusing to leave the no-man's land, demanding passage to India, They are refusing to step back into their own country despite the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) calling them back.
When Arefin and his family tried to cross over to India late on Tuesday, they were stopped by BSF and sent back to Bangladesh on Wednesday. While the ex-MP and his kin had passports, they did not have visas. They appealed to be let into India, fearing for their life in Bangladesh. While BSF did not comment on the issue, BGB detained him after that. On Wednesday, two more AL functionaries, who tried to cross over from the Darshana land port (on the Darshana-Gede border), were stopped by BGB. Later in the day, BGB issued a press note claiming that a total of three persons who tried to cross the border near Darshana and Benapole, were stopped and detained.
Amit Kumar Tyagi, BSF DIG (North Bengal Frontier), confirmed the warning shot, saying, "At the Mukesh border post in the Kishanganj-North Dinajpur area, we had a gathering of over 200 villagers. We had to resort to one round of blank firing at 1.45 pm on Wednesday. The villagers are still standing between 200 m and 500 m from the international border." He said these villagers were residents of Thakurgaon district in Bangladesh. Other BSF sources said senior officers were at the site, trying to convince the villagers. The local BGB has been alerted and their help sought.
At the Dharadhara Para area of the India-Bangladesh border in Jalpaiguri, over 600 Bangladeshis tried to enter India. There's no fence here, so the BSF jawans are forming a human border themselves. The Bangladeshis have gathered at the 'zero point', facing the BSF shield. Similar reports have come from Nagar Berubari (Satkura Bazar) in Jalpaiguri, along the international border in Dharadhara Para.
BSF officials from the Radhabari sector have been asked to prevent all illegal entry in this area.
Sources said that residents of six villages in Bangladesh's Panchagarh district - Lahiripara, Chirakuti, Bania Para, Balgram and Sundara Para - are seeking refuge in India.
"They are standing barely a few metres from the international border. We have stopped them at zero point. We are taking local help to control the situation," said a senior BSF official.
Indians who had gone to Bangladesh have also started returning to India. Thakurnagar resident Beauty Das, who had gone to Narail, Bangladesh, to meet her sister hours before Hasina resigned, managed to come out of her sister's house on Wednesday morning, covering her face with a dupatta, draped like a hijab. "I had no idea of the political turmoil there. When I reached Narail, I saw people trying to break statues of Mujibur Rahman. When I asked what was happening, the auto driver asked me to stay silent. I could sense trouble but did not know what was waiting for me," she said.
Over the next two days, she saw multiple attempts to destroy a temple near her sister's house and attacks on neighbours. "We could not sleep for the next two nights and stayed huddled in a room, switching off the lights. On Wednesday, I gathered courage and wrapped a dupatta around my face, hid my passport in a bag and managed to reach the Benapole border," Das said.