Karimganj boy swims across Kushiyara to leave for Bangladesh: Border security at stake

The security and surveillance of the Border Security Force (BSF) Battalion 7 along the river line border in Karimganj between India and Bangladesh are under scanner yet again. In broad daylight on Monday, a young man from Karimganj swam across the Kushiyara open river border of Karimganj and left for Bangladesh.

Abhijit Das, Son of Nishindra Das, a resident of Rangamati who comes under Bajarichara Police Station, went missing on November 18 and did not return home.  Abhijit’s family members, after failing to trace him, lodged a missing diary in Bajarichara Police Station. Soon they came across the news of a boy crossing the India Bangladesh border through the Kushiyara river on social media. After watching the video, they identified the boy as Abhijit Das, who was missing since November 18.

The clueless family members then approached the local MLA Krishnendu Paul regarding the matter. Krishnendu Paul had a conversation with SP Karimganj Padmanabha Baruah and urged him to take necessary and appropriate actions to get him back. They wrote to the Police Super to recover him and bring him back to the family and raised the question of how Abhijit could swim to the other side while the border is supposed to be under high-security surveillance from BSF.

The incident also lay bare the border guarding system under BSF, and the question must arise How safe is the India Bangladesh Border in Karimganj? Similarly, one Bangladeshi national swam through the Kushiyara River and entered India. Kushiyara River is free heaven for this type of cross-border migration. The locals of the Subhasnagar area then apprehended the Bangladeshi National, and they handed the person to Karimganj Police. Last week, the people of Latukandi apprehended two Bangladeshi Nationals and handed them over to BSF.