BSF tighten vigil along India-Bangladesh border after unrest in neighbouring country

Agartala, Aug 1: In view of ongoing unrest in Bangladesh, the Border Security Force (BSF) has stepped up its vigil along the border and maintained close coordination with Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) at various levels, officials said on Thursday.

Bangladesh recently witnessed waves of deadly violence and clashes during the quota reform protests claiming the lives of over 170 people and injuring over a thousand.

Media reports quoting Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that the recent agitation centred around quota reform was not a normal movement at all, rather, at one stage it turned into almost a terrorist-like attack.

A BSF spokesman said that to maintain close coordination with Bangladesh border guarding forces, during July, in addition to the Inspector General BSF-Region Commander BGB level conference, four Commandant level flag meetings and 150 Company Commander/Border Out Post (BOP) level meetings with BGB were held.

“The border areas which are vulnerable are being dominated by BSF and BGB jointly by carrying out special coordinated patrols and more than 100 such patrols have been carried out in the month of July. This has reinforced the mutual trust between the two border guarding forces and has greatly enhanced the synergy,” the spokesman told the media.

He said that this was visible in the recent safe return of students from Bangladesh through the Tripura border with BSF was instrumental in facilitating the safe return of more than 900 students so far.

According to the spokesman, the BSF has adopted a multi-pronged strategy to prevent trans-border crime and illegal infiltration. Surveillance has been stepped up and state of the art Hand Held Thermal Imagers and Drones have been inducted, he said.

BSF’s Tripura frontier Inspector General Patel Piyush Purushottam Das has directed all field commanders to step up coordination with all law enforcing agencies and other sister agencies for sharing of intelligence and carrying out joint operations both on border and hinterland against illegal infiltrators and trans-border smugglers.

These agencies include Tripura Police, Tripura State Rifles (TSR), Government Railway Police (GRP), Railway Protection Force (RPF), Customs, Revenue Intelligence, and Forest Department.

BSF has adopted proactive measures to curb trans-border crime. Joint operations with sister agencies are being carried out in the hinterland and mobile check posts are being established with Tripura police and TSR at transit points including railway stations, bus stands, and inter-state check posts.