The number of people that India has pushed into Bangladesh since May 7 has exceeded 1,500, with 54 more cases reported in five incidents on Saturday.
The 54 people, pushed into Bangladesh by Indian Border Security Force on Saturday, include 12 Rohingyas and four Indians. The BSF pushed them into Bangladesh through five border points in Moulvibazar, Thakurgaon, Panchagrah and Lalmonirhat districts.
With the latest push-ins, the number of people, including Rohingyas and Indians, pushed into Bangladesh by India since May 7 reached 1,511.
On Saturday, 12 Rohingyas were pushed through a border point in Moulvibazar, 16 including four Indians were pushed through two border points in Panchagrah, 23 were pushed through a border point in Thakurgaon and three were pushed through a border point in Lalmonirhat, according to the officials of the Border Guard Bangladesh and the police.
The Indian BSF pushed 12 Rohingyas through Natunpallathal border point under Borolekha upazila in Moulvibazar district Saturday morning, New Age Staff correspondent in Sylhet reported.
BGB-52 Battalion commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Ariful Haque Chowdhury said that they detained the 12 Rohingyas, including four women and seven children, at the Natunpallathal border point at about 9:30am on Saturday.
‘We have handed them over to Borolekha police,’ the BGB official said.
Borolekha police station sub-inspector Mofizul Islam said that they would hand over 25 Rohingyas, including the Friday’s detained 13 ones, to the Office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner in Cox’s Bazar after verification.
With this, the Indian BSF pushed at least 147 Rohingyas, including 50 registered with the UNHCR in India, into Bangladesh.
Indian BSF pushed 16 people, including four Indian nationals into Bangladesh through two bordering points namely Mistripara and Pediagach under Sadar and Tentulia upazilas respectively in Panchargah district Saturday morning, New Age correspondent in the district reported.
BGB officials said that 11 people, including four Indians, were pushed into Bangladesh through a border point under Sadar upazila and five were pushed through another border point under Tentulia upazila.
BGB-18 Battalion in Panchagrah commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Monirul Islam said that the BSF pushed 16 people, including four Indians into Bangladesh.
‘We have handed over the Bangladeshis to the police. We are trying to push the Indian nationals back through flag meeting with our Indian counterpart BSF,’ the BGB official said.
New Age Correspondent in Thakurgaon reported that the BSF pushed 23 people, including 12 women and seven children into Bangladesh through the Chapsar border under Haripur upazila in the early hours of Saturday.
According to BGB officials, a BGB patrol team detained 23 people from the Chaitranpukur area and handed them over to Haripur police for questioning.
Referring to the information extracted from the detainees during preliminary interrogation, BGB officials said that detainees were Bangladeshis and had been living in India for a long time.
Haripur police station officer-in-charge Zakaria Mondal said that they were yet to confirm their identities.
The BSF pushed three people into Bangladesh through a border point under Hatibandha upazila in Lalmonirhat district Saturday morning, New Age correspondent in the district reported.
The BSF attempted to push nine more people through the Purba Sardubi border of Barokhata union under Hatibandha upazila and the Dangarpara border of Sreerampur union under Patgram upazila in the district, said BGB-15 Battalion in Lalmonirhat commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Mehedi Imam.
The nine remained stranded in the zero line as BGB in association with local people blocked the push-in attempts successfully, he added.
Hatibandha police station officer-in-charge Mahmudun Nabi said that the BGB handed over detainees to them.
‘We will hand them over to their families after verifying their identities,’ the OC said.
According to Bangladesh authorities, Bangladesh has 4,156 kilometres of border with India, of which some 180 kilometres fall on different water bodies and 79 kilometres on the Sundarbans.
