Bengal feels the heat of Bangla violence

The ripples of the recent violence in Bangladesh, which claimed 55 lives, have reached West Bengal.

According to Border Security Force (BSF) sources, hundreds of trucks, mainly from Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Punjab, are stranded along the border and exports have come to a standstill.

“Nearly 300 drivers and helpers crossed the border, leaving their trucks behind in Bangladeshi ports. They are safe now, but we don’t know how many Indians are stuck in this violence,” sources said.

Additional Director General of BSF B D Sharma, told Deccan Herald: “We are keeping a close watch on the situation and the political development in Bangladesh. Our forces are kept on high alert. But till now, there’s no panic in the border areas.”

Though the police and paramilitary forces remained tight-lipped, it was learnt Director-General of West Bengal Police Naparajit Mukherjee had issued a red alert in Malda, Murshidabad and the North and South 24 Parganas, which abut Bangladesh.

All BSF posts along the border were put on high alert.

As a fallout of the violence, at least 400 trucks from India, carrying fruits, stone chips and other goods, are stranded at Panama Port in Bangladesh. None of the trucks were unloaded because of a “virtual curfew” at the port.

“So far, there is no major impact except on the Malda border where trade got stranded, but if the unrest persists then it will have a negative impact,” said D P Nag, secretary of the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The situation is more alarming because nearly 309 km of the 2,217 km of the international border that Bengal shares with Bangladesh is unfenced and unguarded. This may lead to infiltration. Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura and Bengal share 4,097 km of international border with Bangladesh.

When asked about a possible exodus from Bangladesh, state Home Secretary Basudeb Banerjee said: “We have no such report. Security arrangements have been strengthened along the border.”

On Wednesday, 29 infiltrators were intercepted in Malda district. “We cannot say that people are not crossing the border,” a BSF official said. Violence erupted in the neighbouring country after a war crimes tribunal handed over death sentence to senior Jamaat-e-Islam leader Dilwar Hossain Sayeedee.