A five-member committee led by a senior Border Security Force official has been set up to communicate with Bangladesh authorities ‘to ensure the safety and security of Indian nationals, Hindus, and other minority communities living there,’ The Hindu reported quoting Union Home Minister Amit Shah as saying on Friday.
A preliminary enquiry by government agencies has found that no major attacks against Hindus or other minority communities have been reported in the immediate vicinity of the India-Bangladesh border, a government official said, according to the Indian newspaper report updated online on Saturday.Â
Since August 5, 2024, four instances have been reported of Bangladeshis crowding along the border, all in North Bengal, it mentioned, adding that in all four cases, they were persuaded to return, with the help of the Border Guard Bangladesh and district authorities in the neighbouring country.
Amit said on X that the committee had been formed ‘in the wake of the ongoing situation in Bangladesh’.
Bangladesh being a friendly country, the BSF and BGB have laid down procedures up to the company commander level to deal with any emergent situation along the border, the report said.
India follows a non-lethal policy along the eastern border, the report also said.
The daily reported quoting a BSF official as saying that firing only takes place in extreme cases, while the border forces are instead allowed to use stun grenades and pump action guns to deter cross-border criminals.
After Sheikh Hasina stepped down as Bangladesh prime minister and escaped to India on August 5, violence erupted in the neighbouring country, it reported.
Awami League president Sheikh Hasina fled the country amid mass uprising spearheaded by student protesters bringing an end to her 15-year long regime.
A 17-member interim government led by Nobel laureate Professor Mohammad Yunus on Thursday, however, took the charge.
The president, Mohammed Shahabuddin, dissolved the parliament following the fall of the AL-led government.
