SHILLONG: Border Security Force (BSF) Director General K K Sharma on Friday said that there was a humanitarian issue with the cattle of smuggling which had gone down in last the 3-4 years.
K K Sharma who is in Shillong said that in Bengal, there are many cattle haats located close to the border and local population there are dependent on cattle for livelihood since time immemorial
Stating that the cattle smuggling to Bangladesh has gone down in the last 2-3 years, he added that around 1000 kilometers of the 4096 Indo-Bangla border had not been fenced due to issues of riverine, and difficult areas.
According to Sharma, population on both sides of the Indo-Bangla border has ethnic and religious similarities and population is settled right till the zero line and in such circumstances, it is difficult to guard the border to completely rule out criminal activities
“We are trying to stop and reduce the cattle smuggling and have succeed to a great extent,” he said
Meanwhile, he also said that the BSF is using the policy of non lethal weapons against Bangladeshis since if any Bangladeshi is killed on the border, Bangladeshi Government comes under tremendous pressure and the Central Government has asked the BSF to reduce the killing of Bangladeshi nationals on the border
The BSF is currently using pump action gun instead of regular Insas rifles for guarding the border,” he said while lamenting that the smugglers have become bold because this strategy of the BSF and attacks on the BSF troops have increased
He also maintained that the smuggling of narcotics have gone down seriously and BSF had made a lot of seizures
When asked about the poor road and connectivity in the border areas, he said that work on road, fencing of border and installing flood lights were being taken up in phased manner and there were sufficient funds from the Ministry of Home Affairs for the purpose.
Earlier, Border Security Force Director General K K Sharma also addressed the personnel of the force here at its frontier quarter in Shillong.