In response to Islamic State threat, BSF arms itself with cutting-edge equipment, aggressive strategies

The Border Security Force (BSF) is not treating the recent rise in threat from global terror outfit Islamic State (IS) casually, especially after its recent attacks in Paris and the article ‘Revival of Jihad in Bengal’ published in its magazine Dabiq. Instead, the world’s largest border guarding force has been closely monitoring every move on the borders that India shares with Bangladesh and Pakistan. “IS has posed a big security challenge for the world across. We’re conscious, alert, well equipped and closely monitoring to check any infiltration into the country from across the border,” said BSF Director-General DK Pathak on Friday. [caption id=“attachment_2485316” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The country witnessed a rise in cases of infiltration (62 failed attempts) this year in comparison to 48 cases in 2014. “There has been a desperate bid to infiltrate from across the border, which we have prevented successfully. Often under the cover of firing across LoC, infiltration attempts are made,” he said. Regarding infiltration into West Bengal from Bangladesh, Pathak denied of any such activity in recent times, and said, “To our best of knowledge no infiltration has taken place through Bangladesh-West Bengal border. However, one-fourth of the Bangladesh border is riverine, which opens up the risk of infiltration.” In a bid to make the extremely porous Indo-Bangladesh border secure, the BSF has adopted an aggressive strategy. Besides mapping of Border on Posts (BOPs), a special joint task force has been set up with Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) to check smuggling of fake Indian currency notes (FICN), illegal migration, human trafficking, Phensedyl smuggling and cattle smuggling. Keeping with the government’s present combat policy, the BSF has taken an aggressive stance while dealing with infiltrators — be it terrorists or smugglers. “The earlier stand of not retaliating to the attacks of infiltrators has led to casualties of our troop members. Non-lethal strategy can’t be used at the cost of casualties of our men. We try to follow non-lethal means as far as possible, but not beyond a limit and this strategy has reduced injury and casualty rates of our troops,” asserted Pathak. “We’ve equipped our troops with the latest equipment like LORROS, HHTI, BFSR, NVGs and night vision devices to enhance the surveillance capabilities at cutting edge levels. This year we’ve made record seizures of 280.54 kg of heroin on India-Pakistan border,” the DG said. The BSF, which is celebrating its golden jubilee year, has introduced direct entry of women officers in the rank of assistant commandant for the first time in its history and initiated acquisition of modern weapons and equipment to give teeth to the Force’s efforts against infiltration and terrorism. “BSF men have proved their mettle by facing hostilities from across the border over the decades. Now, we’re strengthening our forces in difficult terrains with newly-acquired sand scooters for patrolling international border along the sandy terrain of Rajasthan. We’ve expanded our air wing by inducting two advanced Mi-17 V5 helicopters, which will be helpful for our troops on borders and in the hinterland during anti-Naxal operations. We’ve procured four new American-made Fast Attack Crafts that can cover one kilometer in 15-20 sec, with a speed of 30-35 nautical miles. These crafts are bullet-proof and fitted with arms, with latest stealth technology that enhance operations at the water,” added Pathak.