The report, which claimed that Bangladeshis occupied India’s land with the help of BGB, is baseless, fabricated and motivated, BGB said statement on Friday.

Signed by Md Shariful Islam, Public Relation Officer of the BGB headquarters, the statement said the newspaper mentioned the Raninagar border as the place of the incident but in reality no incident took place there. The said area extends from Talaimari BOP to Charghat BOP under responsibility of Rajshahi BGB, and crosses the zero line along the river Padma. It has vast char area on both sides.

Anandabazar sais that Bangladeshi villagers are claiming about 22,000 acres of unprotected Indian land along Raninagr and Jalangi border.

According to the report, Bangladeshis are cultivating freely on about 22,000 acres of unprotected land in Raninagar 1 and 2 blocks of the border and across Jalangi. In this context, the real picture is completely different. It is now almost impossible to cultivate along international borders by Bangladeshis, let alone cultivating inside India. BGB members are patrolling the border day and night along the zero line, the BGB statement said.

The Indian media also claimed that BSF detained two Bangladeshis as they entered Indian territory a few days back, and later Bangladeshi ‘miscreants’ abducted two Indian citizens from the Raninagar border as ransom. “The reality is quite the opposite, and the report is motivated,” the BGB statement said.

The statement said the fact is that two incidents took place along the Jalangi border on July 2, which is completely contrary to the statements of the newspaper. “At 11:30am on July 2, two Indian smugglers--Nayan Sheikh and Shahidul Sheikh--crossed the international border and illegally entered Yusufpur village in Bangladesh through the Jalangi border and attacked the villagers over drug trafficking and financial transaction. Locals did not take the matter lightly and surrounded the two smugglers.

On information, the members of Yusufpur BGB camp took the two Indians into their custody for safety reason. “On the other hand, at 12 noon on the same day, the BSF patrol team illegally crossed the international border and entered 300 meters inside Bangladesh (along Pillar 72/4-S) and took away three innocent farmers from Yusufpur area who were returning home after cultivating in the char area."

Also read: BGB, BSF agree to educate border people about sanctity

The BGB-BSF flag meeting was held on the same day following the two incidents.

Later, on July 3, 2020, the matter was settled amicably through the peaceful handover of citizens of both the countries.

The hostile relations of the people with the BSF in the local Muslim inhabited areas, the inability of the local cattle smugglers to do any work this season, the extortion by the BSF from the local fishermen while fishing and above all, the news published in the Indian media to cover up the failure of the local BSF battalion may have been provided by the local Indian people or vested quarter, the statement said.

Also read: 445 Bangladeshis held for illegal entry from India in 2 months: BGB