BSF
- DEFENCE AND SECURITY
News:
Kuki-Chin refugees from
Bangladesh ‘pushed back’ from Mizoram, says MP
What's
in the news?
●
As another round of refugee crisis brewed
on the Mizoram-Bangladesh border, several members of the Kuki-Chin community
were “pushed back” by the Border Security Force (BSF) on January 6.
Key
takeaways:
●
The local Mizoram MP had complained that
not allowing the “ethnic Mizo” from Bangladesh to enter India would amount to
“discrimination on ethnic grounds” as in the 1970s thousands of displaced Chakmas (mostly Buddhists) from Bangladesh
were allowed to enter India and settle in Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.
●
India
is not a signatory to the United Nations Refugee Convention of 1951 and its
1967 Protocol and does not recognise refugees,
and the undocumented migrants are liable to be prosecuted for violating the Foreigners
Act.
Kuki-Chin
Community:
●
Kuki-Chin, the Christian community from Bangladesh’s Chittagong hill tracts, share
close ethnic ties with people in Mizoram.
●
The first tranche of around 300 refugees
came in November 2022.
Mizoram
and refugee camps:
●
The Mizoram government has approved
setting up of temporary shelters and
other amenities for the community, following an action by the Bangladesh Rapid
Action Battalion against some insurgents belonging to the group.
●
Other than the Kuki-Chin, there are over
40,000 refugees from Myanmar who have taken shelter in Mizoram since a military
coup in the neighbouring country in February 2021.
Border
Security Force (BSF):
●
It is India’s border guarding force along
the borders of Pakistan and Bangladesh.
●
BSF is one of the seven Central Armed
Police Forces of Union of India.
●
BSF currently stands as the world’s largest border guarding force.
Purpose:
●
It was raised in the wake of the 1965 War
on 1 December 1965 as India’s first line of defence for ensuring the security
of the borders of India and for matters connected therewith.
Features:
●
BSF plays a crucial role in containing
unauthorized entry into or exit from the territory of India and it prevents
transborder crimes.
●
After the Indian Army, the BSF is the only
Central Armed Police Force in the nation that has an independent air wing, effective artillery regiment, dedicated
marine division and a special intelligence branch.
●
The BSF is also the sole paramilitary
organisation globally to use an active
camel cavalry to patrol the sands of the Thar Desert, which comprise of the
common border between India and Pakistan.
Administrative
Control: Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
Deployment:
●
On-Line
of Control (LoC) along with Indian Army and in Anti-Naxal
Operations.
Officials:
●
The BSF has its own cadre of officers but
its head, designated as a Director-General
(DG), since its raising has been an officer from the Indian Police Service
(IPS).