BSF on alert after CHT violence

Border Security Force (BSF) along the Bangladesh border in Tripura has been put on high alert after a group of around 500 villagers had tried to sneak into India.

Hundreds of migrant Bengali settlers attacked five villages of indigenous people in Chittagong Hill Tracts on Saturday.

BSF Deputy Commandant based in Tripura sector Anil Kumar told bdnews24.com over phone that around 500 Chakmas and Tripuras had reached up to the fence gate of border out post at Karbook in South Tripura on Saturday.

The Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR), however, put the figure at 1,500.

File Photo

But following the intervention of Bangladesh authorities, the villagers have returned to their respective villages, Kumar said.

He said BSF had arranged for their food and security during their overnight stay outside the BOP gate.

The BSF continued to be on high alert to prevent infiltrations from across the border even after the villagers went back. “We are on alert and keeping a close watch on the situation in Bangladesh,” another BSF official said.

The ACHR Director Subash Chakma on Saturday had urged the Indian government to direct the BSF to provide shelter to the fleeing tribal refugees from Bangladesh until the situation improved for their return.

Violence in CHT