SHILLONG: Border Security Force Director General K K Sharma on Friday said that there is a humanitarian issue relating to cattle smuggling, which has gone down in the past 3-4 years.
The Director General who is on a visit to Shillong, said in Bengal, there are many cattle haats located close to the border and the locals there are dependent on cattle for livelihood since time immemorial.
Stating that cattle smuggling to Bangladesh has gone down in the recent years, he said around 1000 km of the 4096 km Indo-Bangla border has not been fenced yet due to issues of riverines and other difficult areas.
According to Sharma, population on both side of the international border has ethnic and religious similarities and are settled right next to 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 cattle smuggling and have succeed to a great extent,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sharma also said the BSF is using the policy of non-lethal weapons against Bangladeshis as the Central Government comes under pressure from Bangladesh if their citizen is killed by firing. The BSF is often asked by the Centre to reduce the killing of Bangladeshi nationals in such cases.
The BSF is currently using pump action gun instead of the regular INSAS rifles for guarding the border, he said while lamenting that smugglers have become bold because of this strategy leading to increased attacks on BSF troops.
He also maintained that narcotics smuggling has gone down to a great extent and the troops have also made numerous seizures.
When asked about the poor road and connectivity in border areas, he said work on road, fencing and installation of flood lights is carried out in phases and there are sufficient funds from the Ministry of Home Affairs for the project.
Earlier, Sharma also addressed BSF personnel at its frontier quarter in Shillong.
