Escalating tension along the India-Pakistan border in northern and western India has put Bengal police and central agencies on high alert across the state that shares borders with Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.
On one hand, the state police and its agencies are working to uphold security. On the other hand, the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), which guard the international borders, have intensified their vigil.
Other central security forces managing vital installations are also on alert, while the defence forces are constantly monitoring the situation, especially along the Siliguri corridor that connects the entire Northeast with the rest of India.
With Nepal in the north and Bangladesh in the south, the corridor, often referred to as Chicken’s Neck, is a strategic part of the Indian sub-continent.
In the districts, the administration and the police are on alert and conducting coordination meetings with different agencies.
On Thursday night, the special task force (STF) of the state police nabbed two persons who are associated with Jamaat-Ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), a banner terror outfit in India, from Birbhum.
Arrested suspected JMB activist Ajmol Hossain. Picture by Prankrishna Hazra
The STF conducted raids in Nalhati and Murarai and arrested Ajmal Hossain and Saheb Ali Khan, respectively.
“The duo were found to be propagating the ideology of the JMB. They are a part of a module that is engaged in the dissemination of seditious materials by using encrypted sophisticated media and also planning to target certain persons and places for committing acts prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India,” said a source.
“They were engaged in recruiting and motivating youths to join the terror outfit and radicalising them to wage war against the Government of India,” the source added.
The STF found that Ajmal had tried to enter Bangladesh and had connections in some other parts of India.
“Both of them, along with some associates, also tried to procure firearms and planned to prepare explosives,” a source said.
In North Dinajpur, BSF troops posted in the Daspara area intercepted nine Bangladeshis on Friday. They were from Dinajpur and Narsingdi districts of the neighbouring country and were staying in India for almost a year.
“They worked as labourers in Rajasthan and were now staying at Daspara. It seems they had planned to return to their own country illegally,” said a source.
In Nadia, the Ranaghat police arrested 16 Bangladeshis on Thursday night.
Arrested suspected JMB activist Saheb Ali Khan. Picture by Prankrishna Hazra
A police source said that the group had initially entered India with the help of an Indian tout and went to western India in search of work.
However, while attempting to return to Bangladesh, all the 16 were apprehended in a late-night operation by a special police team. The Indian tout, who facilitated their movement, has also been arrested.
“Such arrests at the border hint that illegal Bangladeshi entrants in India are trying to return to their own country, following the crackdown by police and other agencies in some Indian states,” said a source.
The SSB, which guards the India-Nepal and India-Bhutan borders — both of which are unfenced — have also intensified the vigil.
On Thursday, a patrolling party of the SSB troopers apprehended a Tibetan national near Dangujote, a village located near the Nepal border in Kharibari block of the Siliguri subdivision. During the investigation, the SSB officers found that Lhundup Dechen, the 45-year-old Tibetan, has been staying in India since 2000 and also has an
Aadhaar card issued against an address in Karnataka and PAN card.
He was trying to cross the border illegally to enter Nepal without a proper exit permit, as is required for a Tibetan national. Later, he was handed over to the Kharibari
police station.
The Railway Protection Force (RPF), which guards the railway assets and works for the safety of passengers, is also conducting joint patrolling with other agencies along the rail tracks in north Bengal and the Northeast.
Stretches of railway tracks in these areas move through areas which are closer to the Bangladesh border.
RPF sources said they had strengthened their security protocols in stations, trains and on railway premises. In the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) zone, coordinated mock drills have been conducted, and vigilance has been increased.
On Thursday, the RPF recovered eight pistols and 16 magazines in Tripura. The RPF personnel were checking an empty general coach of the 14620 Tripura Sundari Express, which connects the Firozpur Cantonment railway station in Punjab with Agartala, NFR sources said.
Coordination meetings
Officials of the district administrations and the police of Malda and Jalpaiguri held coordination meetings with officials of central security forces and defence forces on Friday.
While both these districts share borders with Bangladesh, Jalpaiguri also shares borders with Bhutan.
Representatives of BSF, CISF, railways, Farakka Barrage Project Authority, Archaeological Survey of India and some other departments were present at the meeting.
“It has been resolved that we will maintain close coordination. The security of vital installations like the Farakka barrage, rail stations, police stations, the district administrative and police headquarters, and historical monuments would be beefed up,” said Nitin Singhania, the district magistrate.
In Jalpaiguri, Shama Parveen, the district magistrate, and police chief Umesh Ganpath Khandbahale held a meeting with officials of the Indian army and the BSF. Officials of various state departments were also present at the meeting.
Additional reporting by
Subhasish Chaudhuri in Calcutta,
Soumya De Sarkar in Malda and
our Jalpaiguri correspondent