Home
+
Published : 18 Nov 2016, 12:02 PM
“We are training our troopers so that there are no firings at the border,” said Inspector General PSR Anjaneyulu.
He was speaking at an opinion exchange meeting with a team of Bangladeshi journalists who were on a visit to the region hosted by India’s Ministry of External Affairs and the BSF.
“BSF, in some situations, has to fire on criminals,” he said. “Some attacks come from such close vicinity that we need to fire shots in self defence.”
“But we are trying to train our members to stop those incidents from recurring.”
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal in April said 146 Bangladeshi nationals were killed by BSF in the last four years.
Aziz Ahmed, former chief of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), said it was a big failure that he could not stop border shootings during his last four years in office.
Anjaneyulu said they have to function differently at the western front that bordered with Pakistan, which India considers an “enemy state.”
Their work at the eastern front was however different, he said.
“The battalions which work here are told that ‘this is the India-Bangladesh border, the same technique does not apply here... because Bangladesh is a friendly nation,” he reportedly said.
Anjaneyulu, who took over two months ago, without specifying a timeframe, said it will take time to stop border killings. “We are trying to avoid this by using non-lethal weapons. We believe it can be stopped.”
“Our troopers do not shoot unless they are attacked from close vicinity. We always say ‘don’t shoot. Shooting is the last stage’.”
According to the BSF, its troopers fired 224 rounds of ammunition at the South Bengal Frontier until November this year. A total 2,300 rubber bullets were fired too.
“In some cases, we fire to give warning. We fire warning shots when we know a crime is going to be organised.”
The team of reporters from Bangladesh were given a tour of BSF activities in Sundarbans and Panitar in North 24 Pargana.
