New Delhi: With more Rohingya refugees entering Bangladesh territory every day, the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) are now unhappy with the BSF for pushing Rohingyas back into their country.
According to the BSF, 87 Rohingya refugees, with "nothing objectionable found on them", were stopped from infiltrating India this year.
DG BSF, K K Sharma said that they have pushed back these Rohingyas into Bangladesh, something which has made the Border Guards Bangladesh unhappy.
"We don't arrest them but push them back. If we arrest these people, then they become a liability," Sharma said.
BSF has deployed five additional battalions at the Indo-Bangla border this year to stop Rohingya infiltration.
Addressing the media at, DG BSF said, "We identified the vulnerable border outposts from where Rohingyas could possibly enter and increased deployment there. We also put in thermal imagers at these outposts to stop infiltration. Nearest bus stops and railway stations were also monitored by our intelligence department to intercept Rohingyas who could have escaped us at the border."
The top officer of the BSF conceded that they had found nothing on these Rohingyas, which can be termed 'objectionable.'
The Union government has told the Supreme Court that Rohingyas are a huge national security threat and therefore cannot be allowed to stay in India.
"BGB is not happy when we send back the Rohingyas. We had other incidents when the BGB would send them back through unnamed posts on the Indo-Bangla border but we have managed to send them off again,” Sharma said.
He added, “Because of the cordial relations between BGB and BSF, we have managed to handle the situation well."
He also underlined that it is difficult for his forces to differentiate between Rohingyas and Bangladeshis. “They look very similar. Speak almost the same language. It is difficult for our boys to distinguish between them. So we have told them to not take any chances," he said.
The Union government has said that about 40,000 Rohingyas live in India. BSF has pegged the figure at 36,000 and said that their interrogation of some of those who were stopped from entering the country, made it clear that Jammu and Hyderabad are their preferred destinations in India.
BSF further added that because of the existing Rohingya population in these places, the new immigrants find ready job opportunities and have a better economic security in these places.
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