Kadamtala (Siliguri), May 26: The BSF is pushing for a joint operation with the Bangladesh Rifles to flush out insurgents operating in India and taking shelter across the border.
“We have identified 194 militant camps (set up) in Bangladesh territory bordering the 1,066-km India-Bangladesh border with the active help of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and fundamentalist organisations,” BSF director-general Ajai Raj Sharma said at the force’s North Bengal Frontier headquarters, 16 km from Siliguri.
“We have taken up the matter with the BDR brass (and asked) for a joint operation to smash the camps,” he said.
“These outfits, including the United Liberation Front of Asom, the National Democratic Front of Boroland, the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation, the All Tripura Tiger Force and the National Liberation Front of Tripura, operating from Bangladesh soil carry out subversive activities in India and sneak back into Bangladesh, while the BDR turns a blind eye,” asserted the BSF chief.
“The BDR denies their existence and has not yet responded to our demands for a joint operation. They in turn accuse India of harbouring militant outfits of Bangladesh within Indian territory. We have offered them a similar joint operation if they can identify such camps,” Sharma said.
The BSF chief also revealed plans to modernise the 160-battalion force and make it more people-friendly.
“A modernisation programme of Rs 2,300 crore is underway. This includes purchase of state-of-the-art weapons, communication and surveillance gadgets. We are spending Rs 430 crore alone on sophisticated surveillance gadgets, for which global tenders have already been floated,” he said.
“Illegal infiltration and exfiltration, cross-border smuggling and cross-border crimes are the three main worries along the Indo-Bangla border. Once the barbed-wire fencing along the border is complete, the irritants will be minimised,” assured the BSF official.
“For the riverine border stretch in south Bengal, the BSF has set up floating border outposts, including a ship that can navigate the shallow waters of the Sunderbans. Each floating outpost has three specially-fitted Australian-made speedboats and is manned by 40 BSF personnel,” he said.
This apart, the rank and file will undergo specialised weapons training. They will also undergo commando and counter-insurgency warfare training, said Sharma.
The personnel combating militants in Kashmir will soon be equipped with bulletproof jackets weighing less than 5 kg, to ensure better mobility.
To make the force more humane, the personnel are taking human rights violation courses.
“The human rights course will make the force more people-friendly and sensitive to the sentiments and needs of the civilian population,” Sharma said.
He admitted that as many as 1,000 human right violation cases have been filed against the BSF, but asserted that the force is now more sensitive to the civilian population along the border.
