Bangladesh unrest: BSF reviews operational preparedness along borders

New Delhi: With India asking its Border Security Force to be “exceptionally alert” in view of the violence and change of regime in Bangladesh, the chief of the paramilitary force, Daljit Singh Chawdhary, on Tuesday visited the Integrated Check Post at Petrapole on the border between the two neighbouring countries in West Bengal.

As the fall of the Awami League government in Dhaka was followed by attacks on the minority communities across Bangladesh, India has put its border guarding force on high alert all along the 4096-kilometre-long border between the two nations.

“We are also monitoring the situation with regard to the status of minorities. There are reports of initiatives by various groups and organizations to ensure their protection and well-being. We welcome that but will naturally remain deeply concerned till law and order are visibly restored. Our border guarding forces have also been instructed to be exceptionally alert in view of this complex situation,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said, making identical statements in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Chawdhary, the Director General of the BSF, visited the India-Bangladesh border in Sundarbans in West Bengal on Monday – the day Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister of the neighbouring country and flew to New Delhi just hours before mobs of protesters stormed her official residence Gana Bhavan in Dhaka. The chief of the paramilitary force visited the ICP at Petrapole on Tuesday and assessed the tactical and operational preparedness and deployment strategies of the force at the key locations along the India-Bangladesh border in view of the unrest across the border.

He visited the passenger and cargo terminal at the ICP in Petrapole and "reviewed the complex operational challenges faced by the troops", according to a BSF official.

He visited the “highly sensitive” border post at Ranaghat in the North 24 Parganas of West Bengal and discussed operational strategies to deal with illegal infiltration from Bangladesh to India. He stressed the need to increase vigilance and take effective measures to deal with the challenges.