NEW DELHI, May 22 � The Border Security Force, guarding the porous Indo-Bangladesh border, has armed its troops with �non-lethal� weapons to reduce casualties and fatal injuries to Bangladeshi nationals attempting to cross over into this country, reports PTI.
The force, which guards more than 4,000 kilometres of the border, has provided its personnel with pump-action guns in addition to their regular weapons � INSAS rifles and SLRs. The guns are similar to those used by the CRPF in Jammu and Kashmir to quell civil protests.
�The non-lethal weapons have been provided to the troops along the Bangladesh border at sections where suspicious border crossings are more. This has been done after an agreement with the border guarding force of that country � Border Guards Bangladesh � in March this year,� a senior BSF officer said.
The officer said the headquarters of the force here has also devised a new standard operating procedure (SOP) for the use of these weapons.
�The first fire, the challenge fire, would be from the pump-action gun which emits rubber bullets. Firing from the regular weapon would be done only after this step. The sanctity and security of the Indian border would, however, be the first in any case,� the officer said.
The experiment has begun and if the results are encouraging, the operation of the initiative will be expanded, the officer said.
A number of people, including smugglers cross the border at vulnerable points or in the dark which raises suspicion and the troops resort to firing, the officer said.
An agreement to use �non-lethal� weapons by BSF was formulated in March when a delegation of Border Guards Bangladesh, led by its chief Major General Rafiqul Islam, met BSF Director General Raman Srivastava and his team in New Delhi as part of their bi-annual conference.
During the talks, the Bangladeshi side had raised the issue of �killing� of its nationals along the border.
BGB chief Islam had said that internationally followed Rules of Engagement (RoE) should be adhered to along the Indo-Bangla border to keep it �peaceful at any cost�.
�Every individual, be it smuggler, drug trafficker...Has a right to survive till he or she is found guilty in the court of law. That is why we have been urging the Indian government and the BSF...Please avoid firing that kills people. You arrest them for illegally crossing the border,� Islam said.
The BSF agreed and said that it too does not want to kill anyone and, hence, they proposed to use non-lethal weapons.
