Dawki, Dec. 15: Two years after Pyrdiwah, a border conflict of similar proportions is brewing near Dawki. Thousands of Bangladeshi boatmen have transgressed into a disputed area 150 yards from the Zero Point in Meghalaya and are trying to make further inroads with the Bangladesh Rifles? backing. Some have entered parts of Dawki and nearby Rongkhum.
The infiltrators were recently spotted collecting boulders from Dawki Khal with Bangladesh Rifles personnel deployed across the border keeping watch. The BSF reacted to the intrusion only after learning that a group of journalists were witness to it.
The BSF commandant of the Dawki sector, Mahinder Singh, reached the site with his team just as a Bangladesh Rifles commander warned this correspondent to stop taking photographs. ?I will shoot if you come near and take photographs,? the commander, who identified himself as Majid, said.
?Aamader aro BSFer moide samjohata hoiase (we have reached an understanding with the BSF),? he added.
The site where the incident took place is within sniffing distance of border pillar number 1,273, where the BSF has an outpost.
On hearing Majid?s remark, Singh asked him to take the boatmen away. The Bangladesh Rifles officer left the scene grumbling.
Caught on the backfoot, Singh tried to explain that the Bangladeshis were ?not in the wrong as it is their area?. However, he contradicted himself on being asked to point out the area under dispute. ?We will not permit them to enter the disputed area,? he said.
The BSF commandant dismissed Majid?s claim about an understanding between the border forces.
Residents of Dawki and Mukertilla, however, said they were convinced a section of BSF officers had struck a deal with Bangladesh Rifles.
?Without their involvement, such violations cannot happen,? the president of the Federal Council of Ri War Mihngi and War Jaintia, Metfort Ryangsai, said.
Another tribal leader warned of a rerun of the conflict in Pyrdiwah, which is only a km away from Dawki Khal.
?This is a clear threat to our security. It is illegal and could turn ugly,? the sordar (chieftain) of Raid Mukertilla, P.R. Khongwang, said.