Staff Reporter :
The authorities have put the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) on high alert at Sylhet borders after India published the final National Register of Citizens (NRC), stripping 1.9 million people of citizenship.
BGB has beefed up surveillance at the borders so that none can ‘intrude’ into Bangladesh.
Sylhet-based BGB-19 chief Lieutenant Colonel Syed Hossain said that they are prepared to tackle any untoward incident at the border with India’s Assam and Meghalaya states following the publication of the final NRC list.
“All the borders under battalion-19 have been asked to remain on high alert and vigilant keeping the Assam issue in mind. We are also monitoring whether the situation deteriorates at Assam,” he said.
Sylhet’s Zakiganj, Kanaighat and Beanibazar upazilas and Moulvibazar’s Barlekha, Kulaura and Kamalganj have border with Assam; and Companiganj, Jaintiapur and Gowainghat upazilas have border with Meghalaya, which is in the southern side of Assam.
“Till now, there are no suspicious activities at the borders, but the situation might deteriorate if NRC excluded people try to enter Bangladesh or India tries to push them in,” Lt Col Sayeed Hossain, Commanding Officer (CO) of Zakiganj BGB Battalion-19, said.
The BGB official said, “We have alerted all our regular patrol duty teams to be more vigilant and enforce more frequent patrol duty. We have also alerted the locals of the bordering area to inform us about any irregular movement in the border.”
Lt Col Ahmed Yusuf Jamil, CO of BGB Battalion-48, said, “Even though my battalion are on duty at the bordering area with Meghalaya, we have been alerted to be more vigilant as the northern part of Meghalaya is Assam and the influx might come through Meghalaya.”
He said they are prepared to tackle any Indian citizen trying to illegally push-in through the border. “The locals have been instructed to inform BGB if they see any activity from India’s Border Security Force or Indians.”
