Contrary to claims by the Border Security Force (BSF), the body of a Bangladesh former Chhatra League leader, who was earlier said to have to been shot by the paramilitary forces while escaping to India, was found on Indian territory on August 27.
This discovery was startling especially in the wake of BSF Meghalaya Frontier Inspector General Harbux Singh Dhillon’s claims on August 25 that it was a “absolute lie” that the body of former Chhatra League General Secretary Ishaque Ali Khan Panna had been found in Meghalaya.
Reacting to claims in Bangladesh that Panna was shot by BSF troops on Indian soil, Dhillon had said, “This is an absolute lie. The body was found in Donachera, which is inside Bangladesh. As per the information received, the body was lying there for 5-6 hours before Bangladesh authorities picked it up”.
Dhillon went on to say that no Border Guard Bangladesh officer had raised the issue with the BSF as the incident “didn’t happen in India”.
While the body was located yesterday, information shared by Panna’s relatives with Northeast News confirmed over phone that the body was found near Dona village under the Meghalaya Police’s Umkiang outpost.
It was moved for post-mortem examination before it was taken to the office of the Deputy Commissioner at Khliehriat for all necessary legal action.
Khliehriat is the headquarters of Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district. Donacherra, as claimed by Dhillon, is located in Bangladesh and far from the place where Panna’s body was found.
While smugglers use Donacherra for the cross-border movement of contraband, a BGB unit of the 19th Battalion is stationed there.
Panna was a resident of Banani in Dhaka. He had been contemplating escaping the capital city and fleeing to India since the violent students’ movement led to the collapse of the Sheikh Hasina regime and her flight to India on August 5.
A General Diary filed by Panna’s nephew Kamruzzaman Khan Nabil on August 27 says that the former Chhatra League general secretary left his Banani apartment on August 21 for Sylhet.
However, his relatives later learnt from media reports that he had died as a consequence of a heart attack, at a location under Kanaighat Police Station in Bangladesh’s Sylhet district.
Amidst the ambiguity over Panna’s death, the BSF IG’s August 25 statement not only confused the family members of the former Chhatra League leader, but has also raised eyebrows about the issue of surveillance and security along the international border.
BSF’s Meghalaya Frontier is yet to issue any official statement on surprising discovery of Panna’s body inside the Indian territory.
