Border standoff ends, BSF sends stranded ‘illegals’ to Bangladesh

Jalpaiguri: A high-stakes standoff between BSF and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) at four points along the India-Bangladesh border in Bengal ended abruptly overnight, with all 40-odd Bangladeshi nationals who had been stranded at zero points since Friday disappearing by Saturday morning.The most tense confrontation unfolded at Pillar No. 134 in Panishala, Mekhliganj, Cooch Behar, where 10 people had been stranded after the BGB refused to accept them, claiming they were being "illegally pushed back" from India. When the BSF sought a flag meeting, BGB declined. After hours and a major altercation in the early hours of Saturday, the BGB backed down. BSF said all those stranded had since returned to Bangladesh.A similar pattern played out at the three other locations — Sitalkuchi and Dinhata in Cooch Behar and Sakati in Jalpaiguri Sadar — where around 30 more Bangladeshi nationals, including women and children, had been stranded through Friday before vanishing overnight.A video that surfaced during the standoff, purportedly showing a BSF-BGB exchange in front of the stranded individuals, showed a woman saying she was from Khulna and wanted to return to her village. Sources said the BSF used the footage to press the BGB into accepting the nationals back.But the BGB on Saturday claimed to have foiled eight separate BSF "push back" attempts in the preceding 24 hours, issuing an official statement through its public relations officer Shariful Islam.Among the incidents cited: three individuals were stopped at the Jadabpur border near North 24 Parganas and Nadia; 17 were turned back at the Karmudanga border near South Dinajpur; 21 were blocked at the Barkhata and Payashottibari border near Dhubri in Assam; and seven were prevented from crossing at Dighaltari border near Cooch Behar.