Border Security Force (BSF) sector commanders posted along the India-Bangladesh border on Tuesday vehemently opposed a verbal order by the paramilitary force’s director general to suspend firing along for the international boundary for a period of seven to 10 days.
The immediate reason for the BSF top brass’ decision to suspect firing along the border may be linked to a controversy surrounding the death of a Bangladeshi national, identified as Ishaque Ali Khan Panna, a former Bangladesh Chhatra League functionary, on August 23 when he was supposedly trying to cross the India-Bangladesh border opposite Meghalaya.
As many as 20 BSF sector commanders and at least six other Deputy Inspectors General (DIGs) in charge of the ‘G Branch’ (which collects intelligence) opposed Director General Daljit Singh Chaudhary’s verbal order which was preceded by an August 24 written order to suspend firing by troops for a day.
Contesting the DG’s order, several sector commanders, usually of DIG rank, told Additional Director General (East) Ravi Gandhi over video call that suspending firing would encourage cross-border smuggling and lead to breaching of fencing besides giving fillip to other anti-social activities along sensitive stretches of the India-Bangladesh border.
Notwithstanding the sector commanders’ opposition, the BSF top brass prevailed in pushing through the DG’s verbal order.
Meanwhile, Panna’s family members have intensified efforts to locate his body which, the BSF said on August 26, remained in the custody of the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) at a location called Donna Cherra in Sylhet. The Indian border outpost (BOP) opposite Donna Cherra is Donna in Meghalaya.
Reacting to initial Bangladeshi media reports that Panna was shot dead by the BSF when he tried crossing over to India, BSF Inspector General Harbux Singh Dhillon had denied that his troops fired at the Bangladeshi national. Terming the media reports as an “absolute lie”, Dhillon had said that the “body was found in Donna Cherra, which is inside Bangladesh. As per the information received, the body was lying there for 5-6 hours before Bangladesh authorities picked it up”.
Pointing out that the BGB had not raised the issue over Panna’s body with BSF as the incident “did not happen in India”, the BSF said that rumours were rife that Panna had been treated at a local hospital.
The BGB’s 19th Battalion (or the Zakiganj Battalion) is deployed along the stretch of the border that covers Donna Cherra.
Speaking to Northeast News over phone on the condition of anonymity, a close relative of Panna said the family was desperately “running from pillar to post” to get the Bangladesh foreign ministry and the BGB to speedily act to locate the body.
This relative said that previous attempts to push the foreign ministry to act on a written application to locate Panna’s body did not yield any result as most officials were involved in reorganising themselves following the political upheaval in Bangladesh.
The BGB has so far not reacted on the circumstances leading to Panna’s death. On the other hand, BSF sources alleged that Panna may have been lynched by a mob within Bangladeshi territory or the BGB itself may have fired, leading to the Awami League leader’s death.
