SHILLONG, July 14:
Director General of Border Security Force (BSF) KK Sharma has said the Central Government is very conscious and alive to the situation of Islamic radicalisation in the country.
“Radicalisation of Islam is a worldwide phenomenon ? and the government of India is very conscious and alive to the situation and all necessary steps have been taken to counter radicalisation in India.
BSF is prepared to deal with any misadventure from other side on the border,” he told reporters here in Meghalaya.
“It (radicalisation) is not confined to Iran, Iraq or to some other small place. Every country which has got a Muslim population is faced with the problem of radicalisation because of the misuse or greater use of the social media,” he said.
Moreover, Mr Sharma said that a person does not need to come to a residence of another person to brainwash him. “He is now in a position to brainwash sitting somewhere else through doctored videos, inflammatory literatures and this process is a very dangerous one,” he added.
On the other hand, the BSF chief disclosed that Bangladeshi smugglers have become bolder after the BSF jawans guarding the Indo-Bangla border are using non-lethal weapons.
“BSF is following a policy of non-lethal weapon. This has been done with the purpose to reduce the killings of Bangladeshi nationals on the International Border since the Bangladesh Government comes under tremendous pressure and the Central Government has asked the BSF to reduce the killing of Bangladeshi nationals on the border,” However, Mr Sharma said that because of this strategy, the Bangladeshi smugglers have become bold and attacks on the BSF troops have increased and roughly 150 BSF troopers are injured every year.
The BSF chief said that last year, they have lost one officer and one man in clashes with Bangladesh smugglers. Sharma said that the overall number of cattle smuggling to Bangladesh has come down in the last two to three years as a result of more deployment at crucial places and identification of vulnerable areas and better coordination with the local police.
“BSF is the last agency to try and stop the cattle smuggling, cattle is collected from all over the country and from the hinterland it is brought to the International Border.
In West Bengal, there are many cattle hatas very close to the International Border and consequently it comes very difficult to stop 100 per cent on the incidents of cattle smugglings.
“You must also realise that the local population is also dependent, since time immemorial, on cattle trade and therefore, their livelihood depends on this and it is a humanitarian issue and we must realise. But we are constantly trying to stop it and reduce it.” (UNI)
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