SHILLONG, July 13 - Calling Pakistan a �hostile� and Bangladesh a �friendly� neighbour, BSF Director General KK Sharma said the BSF has been treating the two countries as per their actions.
Addressing reporters here today, Sharma said that India has been punishing �hostile Pakistan� by causing damage to their men and material. On the other hand, India has been sacrificing its own men for �friendly Bangladesh�.
Elaborating on his statement, the BSF DG said Pakistan has been trying to create trouble for India for a long time and has tried to divide the country through the Khalistan Movement. �Now they are trying to do the same thing through Kashmir,� Sharma said.
He said Pakistan has been resorting to ceasefire violations, pushing in militants from time to time. �On every occasion, we have given them a befitting reply. We have dominated on every occasion and caused heavy damage in terms of men and material on the other side,� Sharma maintained.
In the case of Bangladesh, the External Affairs Ministry has given an instruction to the BSF to reduce killing of intruders along the border as India and Bangladesh share friendly relations. Most infiltrators at the border are Bangladeshi smugglers and illegal immigrants.
�We have a friendly government in Bangladesh; so whenever a Bangladeshi national is killed on the border the Bangladesh Government comes under tremendous pressure and so we have been using non-lethal pump action guns at the Bangladesh border instead of the regular INSAS rifles,� he stated.
However, due to this strategic decision, Bangladeshi smugglers have become bolder and attacks on the BSF have increased, Sharma pointed out. �One-hundred-and-fifty BSF personnel are injured every year. Two BSF personnel lost their lives last year. This shows the kind of determination the BSF has, in securing our borders,� the BSF DG said.
Before the directive from the External Affairs Ministry, the number of Bangladeshi infiltrators killed by the BSF every year was in three-digit figures. �Last year the killings declined to 10 and this year, no Bangladeshi smuggler has been killed so far though Indian smugglers were killed,� Sharma added.
