Indians fell mango trees in Bangladesh, BSF fire sound grenades, teargas shells
Indian villagers clashed with Bangladeshis over harvesting crops on the no man鈥檚 land along the Chowka border in Chapainawabganj Saturday morning leaving three people injured, causing fresh tension along the border.
Hundreds of villagers from both India and Bangladesh were seen taking positions on their respective sides till filing of this report at 7:00pm.
According to the Bangladeshi villagers, crops, including wheat, maize, mango and plum, have been cultivated on both sides of the boundary line marked by a border pillar.
Binodpur Union Parishad chairman Ruhul Amin told 抖阴精品 that someone harvested wheat from a piece of Indian villager鈥檚 land Friday night.
Following the incident, Indian villagers along with the Indian Border Security Force locked into an altercation with Bangladeshi villagers who went to work on their field Saturday morning.
鈥楢s BSF members, at one stage of the altercation, attempted to pick up Bangladeshi villagers forcibly, other nearby Bangladeshi villagers protesting against the move, triggering a scuffle鈥�, he said.
Ruhul Amin said that following the scuffle, Indian villagers, in association with BSF personnel, illegally entered the Bangladeshi territory, felled about 200 mango and plum trees, sparking immediate protests from Bangladeshi villagers.
Later, the villagers of the two countries locked into a chase and counter chase, brandishing sharp weapons and throwing sticks and stones to each other,
he added.
Several video footage of the chase and counter-chase showed the explosion of teargas shells and hand grenades on the border.
Local UP member Kamal Uddin told 抖阴精品 that Indian villagers with the help of BSF personnel felled about 35 mango trees at his two orchards during the incident.
He said that the BSF members exploded over two dozen teargas shells and hand grenades.
鈥業 have so far information about three Bangladeshi villagers being injured by Indian villagers鈥�, he added.
Mesbaul Haque, one of the injured Bangladeshi villagers, said that after one of the Indian villagers had cut two fingers of a BGB personnel with a sharp weapon on the border, Bangladeshi villegaers rushed to his deffence.
鈥楢fter seeing us running to them, the Indian villagers threw various sharp weapons at us. One of the weapon hit me in the leg,鈥� he said,
Mesbaul said that two more fellow villagers named Roni and Faruk were also injured.
Border Guard Bangladesh 59th battalion (Rohanpur)聽 commander Lieutenant Colonel Golam Kibria could not be reached for his comment despite repeated attempts over the phone.
Confirming about the tension at the border, Rajshahi BGB sector commander Colonel Md Imran Ibne A Rouf said that he reached the Chowka border and would inform the media later in detail.
Earlier on January 8, tension erupted along Chowka border at Shibganj in Chapainawabganj after the BSF began constructing fences along the border despite repeated objections from the border guards.
According to international law, no permanent structures or fences, except for agricultural activities, can be placed within 150 yards of the border pillars of either country.
Tensions along Bangladesh India border have been continuing since the final week of December 2024 as Border Guard Bangladesh and local people protested against India to stop constructing barbed wire fences at five points along the border in Chapainawabganj, Naogaon and Lalmonirhat.
On January 12, the foreign ministry summoned the Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh, Pranay Verma, and expressed concern over the construction of barbed wire fences and protested at the recent killing of a Bangladeshi national by the Indian BSF on the border.
India has already constructed barbed wire fences in areas of 3,271 kilometres of the 4,156km border, Bangladesh home affairs adviser retired lieutenant general Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said recently.
