Insurgent groups present in certain areas of Bangladesh; no organised camps: BSF

“But the Bangladesh government and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) have always denied it,” said Border Security Force (BSF) DIG D Haokip on November 30.

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SHILLONG:

Border Security Force (BSF) DIG D Haokip has informed that Indian Insurgent Groups (IIGs) are still looming large in certain areas of Bangladesh, particularly in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and few areas bordering Meghalaya.

“But the Bangladesh government and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) have always denied it,” Haokip told the press on November 30.

Speaking a day after the conclusion of three-day Inspector General (IG) level conference between BSF and BGB in Shillong, Haokip informed that the banned Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) does not have any camp in Bangladesh.

“They (HNLC) do not have any camp in Bangladesh but the outfit has support across the border. So, they keep going there on and off,” he said, adding that other proscribed groups, such as the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), however, are taking shelter in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

As for the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), he informed that though the outfit does not have organised camps, their presence in fragments cannot be denied.

“One group keeps crossing over to Bangladesh in the area of Garo Hills on and off, but they also don’t have an organised camp. They (ULFA), however, have certain supporters so they keep going there,” he said.

He added that since camps of other banned outfits such as the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) have been destroyed, they have shifted and don’t have regular camps in Bangladesh due to the pressure exerted by the Centre.

Haokip, however, admitted that, in spite of all the efforts of the BSF, smugglers sometimes sneak through the porous border.

Stating that there are no cases of human trafficking reported along the Meghalaya border as compared to borders in Assam and Bengal, Haokip said the Ministry of Home Affairs has sanctioned certain anti-human trafficking units in places where human trafficking is rampant but in Meghalaya, there is not a single unit. “And in our normal routine, the human trafficking cases have not been reported so far from the state,” he added.

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