PETRAPOLE: After getting her documents checked at the immigration counter of Petrapole border check-post in North 24 Parganas, 45-year-old schoolteacher Sudharani Mondal hurriedly walked towards Bangladesh on Sunday.
“I am hearing that houses, shops and temples are being ransacked. The Hindus are being brutally attacked and injured. I don’t know what will happen to me. But I have to return to my family, including my husband, kids and in-laws as soon as possible before the Indo-Bangla border is sealed,” Sudharani said.
Sudharani, a resident of Faridpur in Bangladesh and a teacher, crossed over to India to visit her relative’s house in Barasat on Nov 22, barely three days before the arrest of Iskcon monk Chinmoy Krishna Das in Bangladesh.
Hundreds of tense Bangla nationals, including passengers and traders from Dhaka, Cox’s Bazar, Mirpur, Rangpur, Kushtia, Karimganj and Chittagong, gathered at international Petrapole border to cross over to Bangladesh, fearing an attempt to seal the border as India’s neighbouring country faces political turmoil since past few days.
A BSF spokesperson, however, made it clear that all border closure talks are “baseless rumours”. “The borders are open for transit for anyone with valid travel docs. But attempts at illegal infiltration will be stopped,” he said.
“I came to Habra last week to visit my brother undergoing treatment. I left my family at Chittagong in Bangladesh, where the situation took a turn for the worse. Somehow, I had to cross the border on Sunday to meet my family,” said Sukumar Shantra, a resident of Chattogram.
The Indo-Bangladesh border at Petrapole Land Port, around 80 km from Kolkata, remained abuzz with activity on Sunday with hundreds of Bangladeshi nationals gathering there and Indians returning from Bangladesh.
According to BSF sources, the senior officials visited the integrated check-post on Sunday and directed officials and personnel to remain alert.
A group of four Bangladeshi youths, who arrived at the Petrapole side on business and tourist visas on Sunday and wished to remain anonymous, expressed anxiety. Among them, a 30-year-old from Khulna, who will be visiting his in-laws at Halisahar, said the minority communities in Bangladesh are living in fear amid the turbulence.
Source Homevior.in
