BSF rubbishes Bangladesh's claims on killing of smugglers, says its non-lethal strategy effective

The BSF has rejected the claims of the Border Guard Bangladesh that killing of smugglers is on the rise along the India-Bangladesh frontier, saying it is "completely incorrect".

The Border Security Force (BSF) maintains that it fires only when a situation turns "ugly" and the lives of its troops are in danger.

The BGB has accused the BSF of killing and torturing smugglers along the border, an allegation rejected by the BSF.

The BSF implemented the non-lethal strategy along the India-Bangladesh border in 2011 which has led to a sharp decline in the number of smugglers getting killed along the border, BSF Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Mridul Sonowal told PTI in Siliguri.

The usage of pump action gun and three types of grenades is one of the many key steps taken by the BSF to reduce the death of smugglers, he said.

Asked about the claim of Bangladesh that the number of killings is going up, Sonowal termed the allegation as "completely incorrect".

"The non-lethal strategy has been very effective along the border. The allegations are baseless," the DIG said.

Recently, Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, while speaking in Parliament in Dhaka, accused the BSF of having killed 294 civilians along the border in the past 10 years.

The issue of smuggler killings came up during the DG-level talks between the two countries.

During the 48th bi-annual Director General-level talks between the BSF and the BGB in Dhaka last month, it was mutually decided to enhance cooperation to better check crime and smuggling of cattle and narcotics across the 4,096- km frontier.

In the meeting, the BSF and the BGB decided to undertake joint efforts to reduce incidents of border killing.

Smuggling of cattle, drugs and narcotics, leather, arms and ammunition has been a major challenge for the BSF and the BGB -- the border guarding forces of the two countries.

According to the BSF, under the non-lethal strategy, it has 12-bore pump action gun and three types of hand grenades -- stun, chilli and dye.

These weapons scare away the smugglers and criminals trying to sneak into the Indian territory as well as those attempting to cross over to Bangladesh, Deputy Commandant of the BSF Kunwar Singh Mahto said.

"The pump action gun is a very effective weapon in tackling the smugglers as it hardly misses the target. The pellets hit the target up to 24 metres," Mahto said.

The three hand grenades come handy when it comes to scaring away the smugglers in a large number. Stun grenade has the ability to suddenly frighten the person while chilli grenade, as the name suggests, produces chilli smoke which deters the person from moving ahead.

"Dye grenade paints black colour on the clothes and body of the smugglers in close range. It leads to the arrest of the smuggler as the colour cannot be washed away for 48 hours," the officer said.

The BSF says it has to open fire in self-defence as the smugglers and criminals, armed with lethal weapon, never shy away from taking the lives of its personnel guarding the Indo-Bangla border.

According to the BSF, as many as 211 of its personnel were injured between 2015 and 2016.

On July 11, a BSF soldier lost his hand and suffered serious injuries in a bomb attack by cattle smugglers from Bangladesh along the border in West Bengal.

Recently, a top BGB officer told a delegation of visiting Indian journalists in Bangladesh that cross-border smuggling cannot be stopped as smugglers are very poor people. For their livelihood, they go for smuggling.

"Regarding the killing, this is our request that we should follow the law of the land. Killing is not the solution," the BGB officer said.