Border Security Force
From Free net encyclopedia
←Older revision | Newer revision→
Template:Military of India The Border Security Force (BSF), established on December 1, 1965, is responsible for guarding India's land borders during peacetime and preventing trans-border crimes. It is a Central paramilitary force operating under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
The Indian Union has a federal structure and is made up of several states, much like the United States. From independence in 1947 to 1965, India's international boundaries were manned by the Armed Police battalions of each Indian state sharing a border with a neighbouring country - with little co-ordination between the states.
When Pakistan attacked Indian outposts on April 9, 1965, the inadequacies of the existing border management setup in coping with external armed aggression were exposed. The Central Government then sanctioned the formation of the Border Security Force (BSF) - a unified, centrally-controlled agency with a specific mandate to guard international boundaries. The BSF was seen in action in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 in areas where the army was thinly spread. A notable battle in which BSF troops gave a good showing was the Battle of Longewala in Western India.
In 1989, a violent Islamic insurgency, or Jihad, was initiated by Pakistan-sponsored militants in Jammu and Kashmir. The task of tackling the violence proved to be beyond the capability of the existing security apparatus, including the Jammu and Kashmir state police and the Central Reserve Police Force. The Central government then decided to bring in the BSF.
Mandated since inception to guard India's external boundaries, the BSF ironically found itself burdened with the additional task of tackling insurgency within the country, along with the Indian army.
After initially suffering heavy casualties to hit-and-run terrorist attacks by Jihadists, the BSF successfully set up an intelligence network in Jammu & Kashmir with the help of local civilians opposed to the Jihad. Steadily, the BSF reaped the rewards and successfully liquidated and arrested a large number of hardcore Islamic militants.
Among the BSF's prime successes in Jammu and Kashmir was the elimination of a Pakistani national known by his comrades as "Ghazi Baba" (rough translation: "killer of non-Muslims"). As the second-in-command of the Pakistani-based Islamic group Jaish-e-Mohammad, Ghazi Baba had masterminded the deadly suicide attack on the Indian parliament in New Delhi in December 2001 - an event sometimes referred to as "India's 9/11". In August 2003, his highly secret hideout in Srinagar city was busted by the BSF and he was killed in the ensuing gun-battle.
Despite the BSF's success in a counter-terrorism role, many in the administration felt that this additional burden was leading to a dilution of the BSF mandate and degrading the force's ability to perform its primary role of guarding the country's borders. The Indian government has now decided to implement recommendations to use each security agency exclusively for its mandated purpose. Thus BSF battalions in Jammu and Kashmir are gradually being withdrawn from counter-insurgency duties and being sent back to guard the borders. They are being replaced by fresh CRPF units that have undergone specialized training in counter-terrorism.
Currently the strength of the BSF is at around 165 battalions or 200,000 men.