Border Security Force


The Border Security Force is India's Primary border guarding organisation on its border with Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is one of the three Border Guarding Forces OF India, and was raised in the wake of the 1965 War on 1 December 1965, "for ensuring the security of the borders of India and for matters connected there with".
It is a paramilitary force charged with guarding India's land border with Pakistan and Bangladesh during peacetime and preventing transnational crime at the same, it has various active roles during an outbreak of war. It is comes under Ministry of Home Affairs. The BSF has its own cadre of officers but its head, designated as a Director-General, since its raising has been an officer from the Indian Police Service. The BSF has grown exponentially from a few battalions in 1965, to 186 battalions with a sanctioned strength of 257,363 personnel including an expanding air wing, marine wing, an artillery regiment, and commando units. It currently stands as the world's largest border guarding force. BSF has been termed as the First Line of Defence of Indian Territories.

History

Since independence, the protection of India's international boundaries was the responsibility of local police belonging to each border state, with little inter-state coordination.
However, during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Pakistan attacked Sardar Post, Chhar Bet, and Beria Bet on 9 April 1965 in Kutch. This attack exposed the inadequacy of the State Armed Police to cope with armed aggression. So after the end of the war, the government created the Border Security Force as a unified central agency with the specific mandate of guarding India's international boundaries. This act brought greater cohesion in border security. K F Rustamji, from the Indian Police Service, was the first Director General of BSF. Since it was a new force, the officers had to be deputed or inducted from outside to fill the various vacancies at various levels until the force's own cadre gets matured enough. Keeping in mind the above, emergency commissioned officers and SS officers of the Indian Army were inducted in large numbers in the force along with IPS officers who were deputed to the force for high level appointments.
The BSF's capabilities were used in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 against Pakistani forces in areas where the Regular Forces were thinly spread; BSF troops took part in several operations including the famous Battle of Longewala. In fact, for BSF the war on eastern front had started well before the war actually broke out in December 1971. BSF had trained, supported and formed part of Mukti Bahini and had entered erstwhile East Pakistan before the actual hostilities broke out. BSF had played a very important role in Liberation of Bangladesh which Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Mujibur Rehman had also acknowledged.

Engagements

During peacetime
During war time
BSF as an armed force is called upon, on the request of state governments to restore law and order whenever deemed necessary. However as a border guarding force, IS duty is not part of its mandate and is secondary to its primary duty of defence of the borders..

Organisation

The Border Security Force has its Headquarters at New Delhi and is known as Force Headquarters headed by a Director General. Various Directorates like Operations, Communications & IT, Training, Engineering, General, Law, Provisioning, Administration, Personnel, Armaments, Medical, Finance etc. function under the DG. Each Directorate is headed by an IG. The Eastern Theatre is looked after by Spl DG HQ at Kolkata and the Western Theatre is looked after by Spl DG HQ at Chandigarh. Field Formations in BSF are headed by an IG and are known as Frontiers Headquarters. There is 13 such Frontier under which Sector Headquarters function headed by a DIG each. Each SHQ has under its command 4–5 Infantry Battalion, along with attachments of artillery, air and water wings. Presently 186 Battalions are sanctioned to BSF. Five major training institutions and 10 Subsidiary Training Centres are imparting ab-initio as well as in-service training to its ranks and other central organizations.
BSF is the only Central Armed Police force to have its own Air Wing and artillery regiment, and besides ITBP to have a Water Wing.
All these specialized wings support the Infantry Battalions in their operations. The Financial Adviser of the BSF has been an Indian Revenue Service officer of the rank of Joint Secretary and also has Dy Advisers from the Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Indian Civil Account Service and Indian Defence Account Service.
The BSF also has a national level school for breeding and training of dogs. Dogs from other central armed forces and State Police are sent to National Training Centre for Dogs to be trained in infantry patrol, detection of explosives, tracking and the like.
The BSF maintains a Tear Smoke Unit, which is unique in India. The TSU is responsible for producing tear gas munitions required for the Anti-Riot Forces like the RAF. It also exports a substantial quantity to other countries.
Three battalions of the BSF, located at Kolkata, Guwahati, and Patna, are designated as the National Disaster Response Force. Each battalion maintains 18 self-contained specialist search and rescue teams of 45 personnel each, including engineers, technicians, electricians, dog squads and medics and paramedics. The establishment of each battalion is 1,158 personnel. The NDRF is a multi-disciplinary, multi-skilled, high-tech force for all types of disasters and can deploy to disasters by air, sea, and land. These battalions are equipped and trained for all natural disasters including combating Chemical, Biological Radiological, Nuclear disasters.
Since 2014, As a part of modernisation, BSF also started installing infra-red, thermal imagers, aerostats for aerial surveillance, ground sensors, radars, sonar systems to secure riverine borders, fibre-optic sensor and laser beam intrusion detection systems on specific sections of border with Pakistan as well as Bangladesh. These Hi-tech systems are installed in areas where barbed wire fencing could not be installed due to treacherous terrain or marshy riverine topography. The largest section of this system is located at Dhubri, Assam, where Brahmaputra river enters Bangladesh.

ORBAT

Creek Crocodile

The Creek Crocodile is the specialized commando unit of BSF. Primary objective of this unit is to act as Quick reaction force and prevent smuggling and infiltration of terrorists by Pakistan.
The unit is specifically deployed at Indus River Estuaries in Gujarat and Sir Creek. It was raised in 2009. The base of operations of this unit is located at Koteshwar outpost of BSF.
Its current strength is 42.

Camel Contingent

BSF Camel Contingent is a specialized battalion-size Camelry Unit. The primary purpose of this unit is to patrol the desert section of border with Pakistan.
This unit has a strength of 1200 camels and 800 riders. Both camels as well as riders are trained at Camel Training Centre located at BSF Frontier Headquarters in Jodhpur.

List of DGs of BSF

Mr K F Rustamji IPS was the first Director General of Border Security Force from 21 July 1965 to 30 September 1974 & current Director General is Mr S S Deswal, IPS, since 11 March 2020.
No.NameStartEnd-
1.Khusro Faramurz Rustamji21 Jul 196530 Sep 1974-
2.Aswini Kumar01 Oct 197431 Dec 1978
3.Sharawan Tandon01 Jan 197930 Nov 1980-
4.K Rama Murti01 Dec 198031 Aug 1982-
5.Birbal Nath02 Oct 198230 Sep 1984-
6.M.C. Mishra01 Oct 198431 Jul 1987-
7.H.P. Bhatnagar01 Aug 198731 Jul 1991-
8.T. Ananthachary01 Aug 199131 May 1993-
9.Prakash Singh09 Jun 199331 Jan 1994-
10.D.K. Arya01 Feb 199404 Dec 1995-
11.Arun Bhagat04 Dec 199501 Oct 1996-
12.A.K. Tondon01 Oct 199604 Dec 1997-
13.E.N. Rammohan04 Dec 199730 Nov 2000-
14.Gurbachan Singh Jagat30 Nov 200030 Jun 2002-
15.Ajay Raj Sharma01 Jul 200231 Dec 2004-
16.R.S. Mooshahary10 Jan 200527 Feb 2006-
17.A.K. Mitra27 Feb 200630 Sep 2008-
18.M.L. Kumawat01 Oct 200831 Jul 2009-
19.Raman Srivastava01 Aug 200931 Oct 2011-
20.U.K. Bansal01 Nov 201130 Nov 2012-
21.P.R. Jaishree01 Dec 201228 Feb 2014-
22.Pal Anjali Ramsajeevan01 Jan 201528 Feb 2016-
23.K.K. Sharma1 March 201430 September 2018-
24.Rajni Kant Mishra1 October 201831 August 2019-
25.V.K. Johri1 September 201910 March 2020-
26.Surjeet Singh Deswal11 March 2020Present-

Counter-Insurgency Operations

Although originally charged with guarding India's external boundaries, In 1990s, the BSF was given the task in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations in Jammu And Kashmir, Punjab, and the Northeastern Seven Sister States. While in Punjab, BSF took Part in operations like Blue Star, Black Thunder 1 & 2 till 1989 and when the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir broke out in 1989, the BSF handover the Counter Insurgency Operations to CRPF and Punjab Police and moved towards state of Jammu & Kashmir. In Jammu and Kashmir, state police and the thinly-deployed Central Reserve Police Force struggled to cope up with the spiraling violence, and the Indian government deployed the BSF in Jammu and Kashmir to combat terrorists.
In Jammu and Kashmir, BSF initially suffered casualties from insurgent attacks but later saw successes. During the initial years, terrorists activity had even reached parts of jammu and Himachal Pradesh, however it was only due operation by BSF that by late 90s, area of activity had restricted to only the valley.
BSF was also successful in setting up a robust HUMINT network. BSF is also credited for killing Ghazi Baba chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed and the mastermind of the 2001 Indian Parliament attack—in August 2003 along with his deputy commander. The BSF raided Baba's hideout in Srinagar and he was killed in the ensuing gun battle along with his deputy chief.
However, with changing tactical and operationnal conditions, and expansion & modernization of State police. Despite the BSF was withdrawn from counter-terrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir in 2006. Government then withdrew all the 16 BSF battalions and diverted back to guard the Indo-Pak border and Bangladesh–India border|Indo-Bangladesh border. These unit were then replaced by fresh units from the CRPF that had undergone specialised training in counter-terrorism.
Some units of BSF are also deployed Central India to Combat Naxal violence Counter-Maoist operations are diversified between ITBP and BSF. BSF is deployed in Kanker district of Chhattisgarh, where Naxal strength is comparatively thinner than that of other parts of Bastar region. At present total 15 battalions of BSF are stationed in different parts of Kanker district to combat the Naxal menace.

Proposal regarding, guarding Indo - Myanmar (Burma) Border

The Cabinet Committee on Security has been considering a proposal to entrust the border-guarding duty along the Indo-Myanmar border to the Border Security Force. Presently, the Indo-Myanmar border is being guarded by Assam Rifles.
The proposed move to guard the Indo-Myanmar border follows a proposal from the BSF to take over the role by raising 45 new battalions, one headquarters of additional director general, four frontier headquarters to be headed by an IG rank official and 12 sector headquarters to be headed by DIG level officials.
However, as of 1 March 2015, it was decided by the Ministry of Home Affairs to keep the authority of this border with Assam Rifles only.
Proposed ORBAT for Myanmar Border

Awards

The BSF personnel have been recipients of the following awards:

Military awards

  1. Comdt Nripjit Singh, Volleyball-1962
  2. Dy Comdt Udham Singh, Hockey-1965
  3. Dy Comdt Praveen Kumar, Athletic-1967
  4. Inspr Jagjit Singh, Hockey-1967
  5. Asst Comdt Ajit Pal Singh, Hockey-1970
  6. Dy Comdt Balwant Singh, Volleyball-1972
  7. Sec-in-Command Anil Kumar, B/Ball-1974
  8. Dy Inspr Gen Mohinder Singh, Shooting-1983
  9. Asst Comdt Mahabir Singh, Wrestling-1985
  10. Asst Comdt Subhash Verma, Wrestling-1987
  11. Inspr Rajesh Kumar, Wrestling-1990
  12. Inspr Sanjay Kumar, Wrestling-1998

    Equipment

All the equipment including the uniforms, weapons, ammunition, vehicles such as the bullet proof vehicles, troop carriers, logistics vehicles, mine protected vehicles are manufactured indigenously at the Indian Ordnance Factories under control of the Ordnance Factories Board.

Pistols and handguns

Canadian controversy

In 2010, some Canadian visa officials rejected the immigration application of a retired BSF soldier Fateh Singh Pandher, terming BSF a "notoriously violent paramilitary unit engaged in systematic attacks on civilians and responsible for torturing suspected criminals". This accusation did not go down well with the Indian government. The Indian External Affairs Ministry was asked by the Home minister to take up the issue with Canada. The Home ministry of India, as well as the Indian public in general and several of India's political parties, expressed outrage at this attack and called Canada's actions discriminatory and spurious, and their charges against the BSF as baseless and unproven. The Indian government threatened diplomatic retaliation unless Canada withdrew their allegations. The Canadian government did not respond immediately. It was speculated that diplomatic retaliation from India will consist of banning Canadians going to participate the War in Afghanistan if they are doing so through India. Public outrage in India prompted Canadian authorities to express "great respect for India's armed forces and related institutions". Subsequently, India's Ministry of External Affairs summoned Canadian High Commissioner Joseph Caron and demanded that "the blatant discrimination against Indian security agencies" cease. India's Minister of External Affairs, SM Krishna, condemned Canada's actions and has expressed pride in the accomplishments of the BSF.
Following complaints made by the Indian government and criticism of Canada's actions against India, the Harper government retracted their earlier accusations against BSF security officials. Canada's Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Jason Kenney, termed as "unfortunate" the incidents involving use of "foul language by the Canadian High Commission in visa rejection letters to some individuals", Kenney said, "This language, or the inaccurate impression it has created, in no way reflects the policy or position of the Government of Canada."

Bangladesh border killings

According to the Bangladeshi government, 136 civilians were killed and a further 170 others suffered injuries in 2009. The Indian government has said that 67 were killed and 80 injured in 2009. The Bangladesh government and Bangladeshi organizations protested heavily against these alleged killings. Media reports claim that in August 2008, Indian BSF officials admitted that they killed 59 persons who were trying to cross the border illegally during the prior six months. Indian media claimed that, in 2001, Bangladeshi Border Force kidnapped and murdered 16 BSF personnel because they chased some Bangladeshi goons back to Bangladesh. Since then, the BSF has been compelled to act tough against Bangladeshi illegals
In July 2009 Channel 4 News reported that apparently "hundreds" of Bangladeshis and Indians are indiscriminately killed by the BSF along the Indo-Bangladeshi Barrier. The BSF claims that the barrier's main purpose is to check illegal immigration to India, and prevent cross-border terrorism from Islamists.
Bangladeshi media accused the BSF of abducting 5 Bangladeshi children, aged between 8 and 15, from the Haripur Upazila in Thakurgaon District of Bangladesh, in 2010. The children were setting fishing nets near the border.
In 2010, Human Rights Watch issued an 81-page report which alleged "over 900 of abuses by the BSF" in the first decade of the 21st century. The report was compiled from interviews with victims of BSF shootings, witnesses and members of the BSF and its Bangladeshi counterpart. According to HRW, while most of them were killed when they crossed into Indian territory for indulging in cattle raiding or other smuggling activities.
In February 2012, the BSF website was hacked by Bangladeshi hackers in retaliation. The hackers later shared the news in the internet and also in the other social sites where they claimed to have defaced the sites asking the BSF to stop killing Bangladeshis at border. The site became normal sometime on 15 February 2012.