A BSF team guarding Indo-Bangladesh border in Nadia gunned down a Bangladeshi national to prevent “exfiltration” at Pakhiura village in Hanshkhali in the early hours of Monday.
Authorities of BSF’s South Bengal Frontier said the Sahrun Halder, 45, a resident of Khulna in Bangladesh, died in the firing when she, along with several others, was being pushed into Bangladesh by touts around 1.30am on Monday. The criminal had cut a portion of barbed fencing between the two countries to push Sahrun and others into the neighbouring nation.
The Pakhiura firing is the second such incident after October 19 firing in Nadia’s Maliapota (Bhimpur), where another Bangla national was gunned down by the BSF.
The Pakhiura firing comes as a fresh embarrassment for the BSF amid growing demand made by the Bangladeshi authorities that their Indian counterpart should be cautious and use non-lethal weapons while guarding the international border between the two countries.
Asked why non-lethal weapons like “pump action guns” were not used, BSF authorities in Calcutta claimed all the troops didn’t carry non-lethal weapons. Jawans of Battalion 8 that opened fire early on Monday at Pakhiura did not have non-lethal weapons with them.
DIG (G), BSF, SBF S.S. Guleria told The Telegraph: “Non-lethal weapons are not available with all personnel. Only around 20 per cent of our personnel have non-lethal weapons.”
“BSF troops had fired one round from Insas rifle in safe direction in the air as a warning shot. However, the goons did not pay any heed and they aggressively tried to force |the exfiltration attempt that led the personnel to fire two rounds below the knee to prevent the incident,” Guleria added.
Early this year, Bangladeshi foreign minister A.K. Abdul Momen had urged the BSF to be cautious and use non-lethal weapons during border vigilance.
After BSF opened fire on Monday, the touts fled and the BSF picked up Sahrun who was lying in a pool of blood. She was taken to Bogula rural hospital, but shifted to Nadia district hospital in Krishnagar, where she was declared dead.
Police said: “The Bangladeshi woman was shot dead apparently while trying to return home from India with the help of touts that operate a racket with Bangla counterparts to help people to cross border illegally.”
“It is a well-coordinated attempt of a racket that is involved in infiltration and exfiltration. Our troops foiled such an attempt today (Monday),” said a BSF official.
