BGB dismayed by Anandabazar’s reporting
Border Guard Bangladesh says the report Bangladeshis are cultivating unprotected land is baseless
Indian newspaper Anandabazar recently published news under the headline "Orikkhito Jomitey Pa Porechey Bangladeshir" (Bangladeshis are Stepping on Unprotected Land) stating Bangladeshis are farming unprotected land.
According to the report, published on July 8, Bangladeshis have been cultivating about 22,000 acres of unprotected land freely in the Raninagar 1 and 2 blocks of the border and across Jalangi area.
"The published news is baseless, fabricated and purposely disseminated," stated Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in a press release.
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It continued, "In this context, the real picture is completely different. Far from cultivating land inside India, it is now almost impossible to cultivate land along international borders. BGB members have been patrolling the border day and night along the zero lines."
"The newspaper mentioned the Raninagar border as the location of the incident but in reality, no incident took place there," it added.
The news report said the area extends from Charghat BOP, the area of responsibility of Rajshahi BGB, to Talaimari BOP and crosses the zero line along the river Padma. It has vast chars, riverine islands, on both sides.
The report added that a few days ago, two Bangladeshis crossed the border into Indian territory and were detained by the Border Security Force (BSF). As a result, two villagers were abducted by Bangladeshi miscreants from the Raninagar border village for ransom.
According to BGB, originally, two incidents took place at the Jalangi border on July 2 – contrary to the main statement of the newspaper.
BGB stated that at around 11:30am on July 2, two Jalangi Indian smugglers, Nayan Sheikh and Shahidul Sheikh, crossed the international border, illegally. They crossed through the Jalangi border and attacked locals in the village of Yusufpur in Bangladesh, to traffic drugs and launder money.
The locals did not take the matter lightly and surrounded the pair. Subsequently, the Yusufpur BGB camp took the two Indians into their custody – out of concern for their safety.
Additionally, at 12pm the same day, the BSF patrol team illegally crossed the international border, entered 300 meters inside Bangladesh, along Pillar 72/4-S, and captured three innocent farmers from Yusufpur area – who had been returning home after cultivating land just in the char area.
A BGB-BSF flag meeting was held on the same day following both incidents. Subsequently, the matter was settled amicably through the peaceful transfer of citizens of both the countries on July 3.
