BSF sets up watch post in no-man’s land
Violating the border rules, Indian Border Security Force has set up a temporary watch post in the no-man’s land at Shahebnagar frontier of Rajshahi’s Godagari upazila.
Border Guard Bangladesh protested the move during a flag meeting between Shahebnagar BGB and Lobongola BSF in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district yesterday, said Col Ferdous Mahmud, director of Rajshahi BGB Battalion-1.
The BSF set up the watch post around 70 yards inside the no-man’s land on Friday night. The violation of the border rules was detected yesterday after both the forces identified their territories during the flag meeting, the BGB official said.
Some border pillars were damaged there in a flood last year.
“We have expressed our concern at the unusual move. None of the border forces can build any structure within 150 yards of the no-man’s land as per the rules,” Col Ferdous said.
Locals said they spotted the new BSF watch post, made of bamboo, straw and jute stalk, in the no-man’s land on Saturday morning. Some BSF members were staying there.
On Monday, BSF men left the post twice after BGB men signalled them to leave. However, the BSF members returned at night, said locals.
They said BSF men tried a few times yesterday to go to the post, but failed to do so as the BGB men were patrolling the area.
Meanwhile, at Char Khanpur frontier of Rajshahi’s Paba upazila, some 250 locals, alongside the BGB men, were patrolling the border area to resist any intrusion into Bangladesh territory.
Nayek Subedar Nazrul Islam, in-charge of Char Khanpur BGB outpost, said they heard that there would be intrusion into Bangladesh territory, and that they sought assistance from locals to resist any such incident.
Locals said the BGB members in a meeting asked the villagers to patrol the border area in shifts. The villagers were working with the border guards round the clock in four shifts.
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