Eleven people who were the target of a “push-in” by India’s Border Security Force (BSF) at the Mashalgaon border in Thakurgaon’s Haripur upazila have been living in subhuman conditions under the open sky for about 40 hours. Early on Saturday, the BSF tried to push the 11 — including women, men and children — into Bangladesh across the border. But when Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) immediately resisted, they took position in the no-man’s-land between the two countries and have been stranded in the border area since.
Those stranded include three men, four women and four children. One is a nine-months-pregnant woman and one is a disabled child, it is learned. According to local sources, two flag meetings have been held but the problem has not yet been resolved, so tension and anxiety continue in the border area. Sixth-grade student Rozina Akhtar said she had been living with her parents in Kolkata, India; Indian authorities later detained them, moved them around various border areas and then released them at the Thakurgaon border. According to locals, the condition of the women and children lying in the open field is very pitiful; villagers have given food and water on humanitarian grounds, but it is inadequate against the need.
Lieutenant Colonel Abdullah Al Moin Hasan, commander of 42 BGB, said a protest over the illegal push-in had been lodged through a flag meeting. Bangladeshi citizens would be accepted after verification in line with the law and rules, he said, but no one pushed in illegally would be accepted. Anxiety is rising among locals over the humanitarian crisis of the women, children and helpless people stranded in the no-man’s-land for so long, and they have demanded quick diplomatic and administrative steps.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report