India not to take Bangla action lightly

NEW DELHI, April 23: India today declared it will not take "lightly the defilement of (BSF) men in uniform" and asked Bangladesh to act against the perpetrators of such "criminal adventurism" to restore confidence and trust, reports PTI. "Criminal adventurism is a crime. India will not accept defilement of men in uniform. We will not take it lightly," External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh said winding up a day-long discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the gruesome killing of BSF personnel on the Indo-Bangladesh border. Dismissing members' charge of intelligence failure, Jaswant Singh said "the question simply cannot arise" considering the nature of terrain and the distance between two forces being just 200 metres. In such a scenario, accusations of an intelligence failure were "fanciful," he added. Singh said deft handling of the situation by the Indian Government resulted in Bangladesh Rifles withdrawing its forces from adverse possession of the border areas "without a shot being fired." He also said BSF has also ordered its own inquiry into the killing of its 16 personnel in the border incident. "It was also completely misleading and inaccurate" to equate what had happened on Indo-Bangla border with that of Kargil which was an aggression from a neighbouring country." "There was no intelligence failure. I have no difficulty in saying this to the House," he added. Regarding suggestions by some members, including former Law Minister Ram Jethmalani, to take this issue to the International Criminal Court of Justice, Singh said such suggestions were "somewhat far-fetched." "We do not want to superimpose (it) on our system and dilute our own jurisprudence. We have not subscribed to it. I have no intention of subscribing to it," he added. Earlier, making identical statements in both Houses of Parliament on the issue, Singh said Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had last night spoken to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and conveyed that she was deeply saddened and concerned by these incidents. She said a full investigation would be carried out into all aspects of the incidents including the mutilation of the bodies of the BSF personnel. Vajpayee voiced India's deep sense of hurt and anguish over the inhuman treatment meted out to BSF personnel on the Indo-Bangladesh border, Singh said. Cutting across party lines, members in both Houses strongly condemned the ghastly killing of BSF personnel on the Indo-Bangla Border and Opposition parties in particular charged the Government with intelligence failure. Seeking clarification on the statement, leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Manmohan Singh demanded an impartial inquiry into the "totally unwarranted and improper intrusion of Bangladesh Rifles into the Indian territory." Troops build-up by BDR: Close on the heels of brutal killing of 16 BSF personnel, Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) has begun troops build-up in three sectors along the border with Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya, official sources said tonight. The sources said additional BDR personnel were being sent in Belonia, Laldila and Pyrdiwah sectors in a move that could escalate tension along the border.