UPA stops BSF troops from firing weapons, puts lives at risk – I

From

Bold and Right
Wednesday, August 21, 2013

By Priyadarshi Dutta on Aug 21, 2013 

This is the first of a two-part article. The next part will be published tomorrow.

The nation did not mourn the death of sub inspector Rajender Singh of 91st battalion BSF, who passed away at a Kolkata hospital on July 22. Perhaps only the Times of India cared to report about him. He would be placed at the end of a martyrs’ list on the website of Border Security Force not updated since 2009. A fortnight later, India exploded in anger when five Indian soldiers were killed along the LoC in Jammu & Kashmir by Pakistani marauders in uniform. The Opposition read between the lines of the Raksha Mantri’s statement of August 6 to accuse him of exonerating Pakistan. The Opposition prevailed after a day of standoff, compelling the Minister to revise his statement.

But the Opposition ignores a more grievous security policy lapse on the eastern frontier. It puts lives and safety of tens of thousands of uniformed personnel and civilian villagers at risk. Rajender Singh, a native of Haryana, was lynched by the cattle traffickers at a border post Jhorpada (District Nadia) in West Bengal. Sustaining heavy injuries, he had slipped into a coma, and passed away subsequently in a Kolkata hospital. The five army jawans butchered by Pakistani forces in J&K were fully entitled to fire in self-defence and kill their attackers. But Rajendar Singh risked being suspended from service if he were to use his INSAS/Baretta rifle even in self-defence against a larger group of assaulters wielding daggers. He had seen that happen to his colleagues who had thought they were doing their duty.

This is because the UPA Government has chosen to strictly enforce a no-firing order on the BSF on the India-Bangladesh border. This has emboldened the cattle traffickers syndicate spanning both sides of the frontier. These highly organised traffickers are generally armed with menacingly sharp daggers. The Government’s decision has put the safety of BSF personnel under a cloud. In 2013, 47 BSF personnel have sustained heavy injuries at the hands of cattle traffickers and smugglers in south Bengal alone. Along the entire eastern frontier, the number is learnt to be 75 in the corresponding period.

As per the Ministry of Home Affairs Annual Report (2012-13) the approximate length of India-Bangladesh border sanctioned to be fenced 3,360 km out of which 2,762 km have been fenced until December 31, 2012. The total length of the border 4096 km out of which 2126 falls in West Bengal.

In the last few years, several cattle traffickers had been shot dead or wounded by the vigilant BSF personnel. Our ‘friendly’ Government in Dhaka, in collaboration with some Human Rights groups in India, had been lobbying with the UPA Government to discontinue this hard approach. Interestingly neither Dhaka nor the Human Rights activists accused that BSF was shooting innocent civilians dead. The victims were admitted to the cattle traffickers. Yet, to appease the critics of this policy, the Government decided to lower the guard. In 2011, the BSF on the India-Bangladesh border were armed with non-lethal weapons. Yet, at some sectors, the BSF personnel still continue to sling lethal weapons at a cost. Another news item in The Times of India reported how four BSF jawans were suspended for shooting at cattle traffickers at Petropol in North-24 parganas in June. In another incident a few days ago, as reported by The Hindu, the Bangladesh Border Guard personnel snatched away the service rifle of a BSF jawan as he reached zero line while chasing a band of cattle traffickers in Tripura. The service rifle was later returned following a flag meeting.

Uniformed personnel posted on the hostile terrain of the LoC in Jammu & Kashmir are properly equipped. But firepower of those serving on messy and dangerous territory on India-Bangladesh border is being muzzled as a policy. The Government has decided to practically replace living sentinels with mannequins. Rajender Kumar’s blood is on the hands of the UPA Government. But the fundamental question is this: Who will defend India’s eastern frontier if the sentinels themselves feel threatened?

Seizures at India-Bangladesh border

Year Arms Fake Indian Currency Notes Narcotics Cattle 2010 70 3226900 9292 101381 2011 45 3226900 8598 135291 2012 38 6609900 3161 120724 2013 5 711000 298 12131

(Source: Lok Sabha Question ‘Status of Fencing and Floodlight at Borders’ April 23, 2013)

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