BGB protests at Anandabazar report ‘Bangladeshis stepping into undemarcated land’

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has officially protested at Indian media Anandabazar Patrika’s report titled ‘Bangladeshis stepping into undemarcated land’

A statement signed by BGB public relations officer Md Shariful Islam on Friday said the news report published in Anandabazar on 7 July was “baseless, fabricated and intentional”.

The newspaper mentioned Raninagar border as the place of the incident. The area is under the jurisdiction of Rajshahi BGB and it stretches from Charghat border outpost (BOP) to Talaimari BOP. The zero line crosses along the Padma river and there are vast chars on both sides, BGB said in the statement.

The statement added that as per the report Bangladeshis are cultivating freely in about 22,000 acres of undemarcated land across Jalangi in Raninagar's 1 and 2 blocks of the border.

BGB said the real picture is just the opposite.

Nowadays, it is quite impossible to cultivate land along the border where entering into the Indian territory is ridiculous. BGB teams are patrolling along the zero line day and night to protect the border, BGB said in the protest letter.

Anandabazar also reported that a few days ago, the members of Indian Border Security Force (BSF) "detained two Bangladeshis as they trespassed into Indian territory." Later, "Bangladeshi miscreants" abducted two villagers from the Raninagar border village as ransom.

According to BGB, the reality is just the opposite and the published report is intentional.

"On 2 July, two incidents took place at the Jalangi border, which contradicted the report published by the newspaper," reads the statement.

BGB said that two Indian smugglers, Nayan Sheikh and Shahidul Sheikh, residents of Jalangi, illegally entered Bangladesh territory around 11:30pm.

Bangladeshi locals then caught them in Yousufpur village and handed them over to BGB men, BGB statement said adding that a BSF patrol team later illegally picked up three Bangladeshi villagers from 300 metres inside Bangladesh's territory (along pillar 72/4-S).

Following the incidents, a flag meeting was held between BSF and BGB on the same day and they settled both the issues by transferring the citizens of both the countries, it also said.