Bangladesh News

Indian Border Security Force (BSF) and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) traded gunfire at Gazipur border area under Sadar upazila in Satkhira on Thursday night.
Our Satkhira correspondent reported that BSF personnel of Pakirdanga camp under Basirhat police station in North 24 Pargana of West Bengal, across the Gazipur border at Sadar upazila, fired two to four rounds of bullets at the BDR camp around 2:00am, forcing the Bangladeshi border security force to retaliate with five to six shots. No casualty was reported.

After the incident, BSF was put on alert along the border, its strength at border outposts was reinforced, and the number of patrols was increased.

BDR was also put on alert to avoid any untoward incident, sources among the Bangladeshi border guards said.

Panic gripped residents of the border area who fear that a skirmish might start at any moment between the two border security forces.

Maj Humayun, second in command of 41 rifles battalion of BDR, confirmed the incident and said as BSF had fired four shots at the BDR camp, they retaliated.

He also said the Indian border guards also fired shots targeting BDR personnel at Bhomra and Baikari border areas under Sadar upazila on August 23 and 24.

Meanwhile, The Daily Star staff correspondent from Sylhet reported that residents of at least 15 villages near Atgram, Biabail, Uttarkul and Amolshid border areas under Zakiganj upazila have yet to return to their homesteads as a tense situation has been prevailing in the area for the last 3 days following wounding of a Bangladeshi farmer by BSF firing on Tuesday.

The Indian border guards removed the red flags from the zero line along Biabail border on Thursday evening and stopped warning Bangladeshi farmers through loudspeakers not to cultivate the farmlands adjacent to the border.

But, BSF started the same practice at the Uttarkul border creating a panic among the neighbouring villagers. BSF also did not reply to the August 22 letter sent to it by BDR. The Bangladeshi border security force in that letter protested BSF’s firing on Bangladeshi farmers on Tuesday. It also requested a flag meeting immediately.

Panic among the villagers at the border has been rising as BSF has been deploying additional forces along Atgram, Biabail, Uttarkul and Amolshid border areas and because of the repeated BSF warnings to the villagers, over the last few days, not to cultivate the lands close to the border.

Academic activities at primary and secondary schools in the area have been suspended. Asaduddin, the septuagenarian wounded by Tuesday’s BSF firing, was admitted to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital. His family members are going through hardships due to a financial crisis. Asad’s treatment is also being hampered, his family members alleged.

BDR and BSF, at a flag meeting held in the Indian territory on Wednesday, agreed to maintain a peaceful atmosphere at the border. Both the sides also agreed to maintain the status quo of the border lands as well as to follow the 1974 border agreement. The meeting was held following a gunfight between the neighbouring border security forces involving over 4000 rounds of bullets and several hundred mortar shells on August 9 and 10. About 15,000 villagers were compelled to leave their houses following the gunfight.