image source, Uttarayan Chakrabarti/BBC
It is reported that hundreds of Bangladeshis who allegedly entered the country illegally have gathered at the Hakimpur border in India, adjacent to Satkhira district of Bangladesh, to return.
The reporter of BBC has also witnessed the fact that many people are gathering in the identity of ‘Bangladeshi’ citizens every day for several weeks at Hakimpur border in North 24 Parganas of India.
It is also reported that they are being kept in local ‘holding centers’ or detention camps to be sent back to Bangladesh after their documents are verified.
It has even been claimed in several media of the two countries that the Indian Border Guard Force has already handed over hundreds of Bangladeshis to the Border Guard Bangladesh or BGB through Hakimpur border.
However, neither the Border Guard Force of Bangladesh – BGB nor the local administration has accepted the truth of this claim.
They told BBC Bangla that the information of sending someone from India to Bangladesh through any process is not correct.
However, they also heard the information that many people are being rounded up across the border with illegal Bangladeshi identities.
Earlier this month, BJP-ruled West Bengal Chief Minister Subvendu Adhikari announced that people from Bangladesh who are living illegally in West Bengal will not be allowed to stay. Along with this, the creation of holding centers or detention centers has also been ordered.
image source, Uttarayan Chakrabarti/BBC
What is happening at the border?
It is believed that the tension on the Bangladesh-India border has taken a continuous form due to various incidents including illegal infiltration, border killings.
There is already discomfort between India and Bangladesh over allegations of push-in or border killings in Bangladesh.
A few days ago, there was an exchange of fire between the border guards of the two countries in Sonarhat border area of Goainghat upazila of Sylhet.
Recently, at the Hakimpur border in India, adjacent to Satkhira district of Bangladesh, hundreds of people allegedly identified as ‘Bangladeshis’ who entered India illegally were rounded up.
Some of whom told BBC Bengal that they were living and working in India ‘illegally’ by ‘stealth’.
BBC Bengal’s Kolkata correspondent Amitabh Bhattashali visited the borderpeople gathered at the border to cross into Bangladesh are told to wait in abandoned houses. From there, the police personnel are calling each family and verifying the documents. Their Bangladesh identity cards are being seen; Name, identity, which district of Bangladesh was his original home – all this information is being written down. Photographs are also being taken.
After that they have to wait at the place near the border post.
Neither the local administration nor the BSF has officially opened up about how they are being sent back to Bangladesh. But residents of Hakimpur, an Indian village in the border region, say they see it all.
Now the process of sending them back to Bangladesh is going on. It is being claimed that many have already been sent to Bangladesh.
On the day BBC Bangla went to the Hakimpur border post on Wednesday, those who want to leave Bangladesh were asked to wait after document verification in the same manner.
But they were kept waiting there till evening.
Then they were taken by bus to the ‘holding centers’ or detention camps set up in Swarupnagar police station area.
However, the local journalists claimed that many people crossed the border at night and left for Bangladesh.
When this is the case on the Indian side of the border, what is the situation on the Bangladesh side?
Kakdanga border of Kalaroa upazila of Satkhira on Bangladesh part of Hakimpur border of India.
It has been found out that there are many incidents across the border, but it did not have much effect on the other side.
BBC Bangla spoke to local public representatives, media workers, police and district administration representatives.
They say that there was some tension between the border guards of the two countries over the incident of push-in from India to Bangladesh through that border on Tuesday, but nothing new happened after that. They also did not get any information about the entry of hundreds of alleged Bangladeshis across the border from India.
image source, Getty Images
Afzal Hossain Habil, Chairman of Keragachi Union on the border of Satkhira, says that although there are reports of many people gathering illegal Bangladeshi identity in India’s Hakimpur, there is still no tension in Bangladesh.
“I hear that people from Bangladesh are doing everything in Hakimpur, but so far I have not received any news that they are entering Bangladesh,” Mr. Abel.
Several media workers and members of law and order forces in Satkhira said that the environment in the border area is normal.
Officer-in-Charge of Kalaroa Police Station HM Shaheen says that there is no tension in the Bangladesh side even though various reports have been received from across the border.
“Through the media we have come to know that people have been gathered across the border, but the BGB is on alert at the border, we have also stepped up vigilance in the thana area,” he told BBC Bangla.
Satkhira Deputy Commissioner Kausar Aziz has claimed that someone has been handed over in the identity of a Bangladeshi infiltrator from India, this information is not correct.
He told BBC Bangla, “I spoke with the BGB commander here last night, there was an attempt to push in from the other side, but they did not succeed. The BGB is on alert on the Bangladesh side.”
In the border area of Jessore, another district of Bangladesh bordering India next to Satkhira, there was no incident of illegal infiltration or forced sending of anyone from India to Bangladesh.
Jessore Superintendent of Police Syed Rafiqul Islam told BBC Bangla, “There has been no incident of anyone being forcibly or formally sent from India to Bangladesh across the border.”
Besides, talking with the district administration of Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj, it is known that the environment in the border area is normal. Superintendent of Police of Chuadanga said that they do not have any information about crossing the border and BGB has not handed over any such person.
However, Jhenaidah BGB arrested two women while trying to enter Bangladesh illegally from India and handed them over to the police.
image source, Getty Images
What the BGB is saying
Soon after the BJP government took over in West Bengal, the new chief minister, Subvendu Adhikari, announced that the alleged ‘Bangladeshi intruders’ would not be allowed to stay.
In such a context, in the reality of the change in the political pot of West Bengal, many people thought that the push in Bangladesh could increase from there.
Last Tuesday, an attempt was made to forcibly enter Bangladesh from India through the Hakimpur border in India in the Satkhira part of Bangladesh, claiming to be ‘Bangladeshi’.
But the attempt was not successful due to the intervention of BGB, claimed the captain of Satkhira 33 BGB Lt. Col. Kazi Ashikur Rahman.
He said that BGB members are on alert in the border area to prevent such attempts. Simultaneously, miking is also being conducted in the border areas.
“The last push attempt from India to Bangladesh was made on May 26 before Eid. Since then, BSF has not made this attempt,” he also claimed.
In response to the question, Mr. Rahman says that no such incident happened.
“There is no push-in through this border and there is no chance of it happening. If someone is handed over to us – it is an authorized process, there is nothing to do secretly,” he told BBC Bengal.
He also claimed that the information being disseminated in various online media about the return of Bangladeshis is not correct.
Mr. Rahman says, “We have contacted many of those who have reported such news on online portals, where did you get such news. They are quoting various Indian news portals.”
Besides, this BGB official says about the Kakdanga-Hakimpur border in Satkhira, “Hakimpur was a traditional route long ago. But the situation is not the same now. We are strictly resisting any attempt by them.”
