Author: Manash Paul
Publication: The Times of India
Date: April 17, 2005
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1080499,curpg-1.cms
Bangladesh border guards abducted
a BSF officer from a flag meeting, beat him up and hit him with an axe
before shooting him dead at point blank range at a border town near Agartala
in Tripura, BSF officials said. Two other BSF personnel were also injured
in the violence on Saturday.
The recovery of BSF assistant commandant
Jiwan Kumar's mutilated body has evoked a sharp reaction here. The officer
was taken away by Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) 7th Battalion at Hirapur across
Lankamura when he sought to secure the release of an Indian villager, abducted
earlier by the Bangladesh border guards on Saturday. Later, his body was
found near the border.
Two BSF jawans, Venukumar and K
K Surendran, were also injured in the incident. The villager, Ramdhan Pal,
is still missing and believed to be held captive at Fakiramura BOP in Brahmanbaria
district.
However, BDR's 7-battalion Fakiramura
camp commander Lt Col Syed Quamruzzaman accused the BSF of entering into
Bangladesh territory and resorting to looting in Hirapur village.
"For the first time in world history
that a border guard officer was treacherously kidnapped and killed by his
counterparts during a flag meeting. It is just unbelievable and against
international norms and ethics," thundered A Jaya Paul, BSF sector commander.
It was murder in cold blood, the
officer... ... observed, adding that it brought forth memories of the Pirdwua
incident in Meghalaya in 2001 in which 16 BSF personnel had been killed
by BDR.
Top BSF officials including DG R
S Mooshahary, IG (Tripura Cachar Mizoram Frontier) and S K Datta were in
Dhaka for talks to resolve border disputes when the incident took place.
BSF sources and villagers said on
Saturday noon, a Bangladesh MP, whose identity could not be ascertained,
had visited Hirapur. He talked to BDR officials and soon after his departure
about 200 soldiers of Bangladesh regular army, besides the BDR men, took
position with guns at a forested upland just across the border.
Sanjit Paul, whose father had gone
missing said, "They (BDR) first kidnapped my father Ramdhan Paul and then
started torturing him. We raised an alarm and company commander, who we
call Khoka Saheb, rushed outside the fencing to talk to the BDR for my
father's release. They were still on Indian side when they were rounded
up by about 25 BDR personnel."
