India today stressed on the need for joint collaborative efforts and mechanisms with Bangladesh to address issues related to illegal activities along the border which leads to regrettable loss of lives.
Reacting to questions about the reports of the deaths of three Bangladesh nationals as a result of firing on the Indian side of the border with Bangladesh, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi said that the Indian Government regrets all incidents of deaths on the border of Indian and Bangladesh nationals. The spokesperson also said that the Government of Bangladesh had been urged to take measures to restrict the movement of people along the border, especially during night hours.
The spokesperson emphasised that the Co-ordinated Border Management Plan signed between India and Bangladesh in July this year envisaged joint responsibility of both the BSF and Border Guard Bangladesh to synergise their efforts to ensure effective control over cross-border illegal activities and crimes.
The Spokesperson said that in order to prevent loss of lives along the border areas, the Border Security Force had exercised the utmost restraint and had resorted to firing in self defence only in rare cases.
India has also taken various steps, including strict control on firing, introduction of non-lethal weapons, round-the-clock domination and intensive patrolling apart from imposing night time restrictions on the movement of people in the border areas.
The Spokesperson added that unfortunately, this policy of restraint had emboldened criminal elements, who had stepped up their attacks on BSF personnel deployed along the border in order to facilitate their illegal activities over the last few months.
Giving details about the two recent incidents in Govindpur in Malda District and Narayanganj in Cooch behar District of West Bengal in the night and early hours of 16 and 17 of this month, the spokesperson said that in both the cases the BSF Jawans had to resort to firing in self defence after they were attacked by a group 50 to 60 miscreants.
