India’s Border Security Force (BSF) detained two Bangladeshi farmers while they were engaged in harvesting and threshing of rice along the Bangladesh-India’s Dharmapur border in Birol upazila of Dinajpur on Friday afternoon.
Protesting against the detention, local Bangladeshis handed over two Indian farmers to Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) through a local Union Parishad member, reports Prothom Alo.
The incidents took place near 320/9 S Pillar at Dharmajain BOP camp’s Mallickpur Karuliapara in Dharmapur Union around 12:15 pm today.
The BGB and BSF members were preparing for the flag meeting while filing this report.
The detained Bangladeshis are - Enamul Haque, 45, from Dharmajain area and Masud Rana, 22, from Bongaon area.
On the other hand, the two Indians have been identified as Abinash Tudu, 20, and Philip Soren, 30. Both are from Anantapur village in India.
Local people said several people including Masud Rana and Enamul Haque harvested rice from their land inside the Bangladesh border near 320/9 S Pillar at Dharmajain BOP camp’s Mallickpur Karuliapara. After harvesting, they were threshing the rice on the land of an Indian citizen near the same pillar. At that time, the BSF members detained the two Bangladeshi farmers.
Knowing the matter, several Bangladeshis from Karuliapara picked up two Indian farmers and handed over to BGB through local UP member Abdur Rahman.
Asked, Dharmajain BOP camp’s Nayek Subedar Rezaul Karim told Prothom Alo, “India’s Border Security Force has detained two Bangladeshis while they were harvesting near the border. Later, local Bangladeshis held two Indians.”
Speaking about the next course of action, he further said, “We’ve already started discussion with India’s Border Security Force. An attempt to settle the issue through a flag meeting has been going on.”
