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Tripura asks BSF to ‘show restraint’

By IANS

Agartala : Days after the Border Security Force (BSF) allegedly shot dead three people, including two Bangladeshis, along the India-Bangladesh border, the Tripura government Thursday asked the paramilitary force to “show restraint” while guarding the border.

“Our police chief has already spoken to the BSF authorities and conveyed the state government’s views not to open fire unless the situation gets out of hand,” Chief Minister Manik Sarkar told newspersons here.

“BSF jawans should try to detain criminals or miscreants before pulling the trigger,” the chief minister said, adding that it was also a cause for concern that miscreants were engaged in trying to cut the barbed wire fence along the border.

Two Bangladeshi miscreants were shot dead this week while trying to cut the barbed wire fencing in the border along western and northern Tripura.

In a separate incident, an Indian villager was killed at Tillabazar in north Tripura when the border guards opened fire to disperse a violent mob.

“The (Indian) villagers were angry after the troopers detained five Bangladeshi nationals and allegedly beat them up,” a police official said.

Despite the border fence and strict vigil by the BSF, infiltration, trans-border movement of miscreants and smuggling continues along the border.

Tripura shares an 856-km-long boundary with Bangladesh.