BSF
The Border Security Force (BSF) is the primary border guarding force of India. It is one of the five Central Armed Police Forces of the Union of India, it was raised in the wake of the 1965 War on 1 December 1965, "for ensuring the security of the borders of Indiaand for matters connected there with".[5][6] It is a Central Armed Police Force charged with guarding India's land border during peacetime and preventing transnational crime. It is a Union Government Agency under the administrative control of Ministry of Home Affairs. The BSF has its own cadre of officers but its head, designated as a Director-General(DG), since its raising has been an officer from the Indian Police Service. It is an Armed Force of the Union of India tasked with various assignments from time to time.[6] 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, artillery regiments, and commando units.[7][8]It currently stands as the world's largest border guarding force. BSF has been termed as the First Line of Defence of Indian Territories.[9]
The unique BSF Camel Contingent during the annual Republic DayParade.
History
A soldier of India's Border Security Force in one of the ceremonial uniforms.
BSF soldiers contributing and supporting at a Medical Camp, India.
From independence in 1947 to 1965, the protection of India's international boundaries was the responsibility of local police belonging to each border state, with little inter-state coordination. BSF was created as a Central government-controlled security force to guard all of India's borders, thus bringing greater cohesion in border security. BSF is charged with guarding India's land border during peacetime and preventing transnational crime. It is a Union Government Agency under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is one of many law enforcement agencies of India.[10] It currently stands as the world's largest border guarding force.[11]
Engagements
- Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
- Operation Blue Star
- Operation Black Thunder
- Counter Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir
- Operation Vijay - Kargil War
- 2001 Bangladeshi-Indian Border skirmishes
- 2001-2002 Operation Prakarm - India-Pakistan Standoff
- 2013 India-Pakistan Border skirmishes
- 2014–15 India–Pakistan border skirmishes
Formation
During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, the border management system was in the hands of the individual state police forces, and these provided incapable of properly dealing with border threats. Following these episodes, the government created the Border Security Force as a unified central agency with the specific mandate of guarding India's international boundaries. KF Rustamji, from the Indian Police Service, was the first Director General of BSF. Till 1965 India’s borders with Pakistan were manned by the State Armed Police Battalion. Pakistan attacked Sardar Post, Chhar Bet and Beria Bet on 9 April 1965 in Kutch. This exposed the inadequacy of the State Armed Police to cope with armed aggression due to which the Government of India felt the need for a specialised centrally controlled Border Security Force, which would be armed and trained to man the International Border with Pakistan. As a result of the recommendations of the Committee of Secretaries, the Border Security Force came into existence on 1 Dec 1965 with K F Rustamji as its first Director General.[12]
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 Dec '71. 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 andSheikh Mujibur Rehman had also acknowledged.
The BSF, long considered a male bastion, has now deployed its first batch of women personnel at the border to carry out regular frisking of women as well as other duties performed by their male counterparts, including guarding the border. Over 100 women have been deployed on the highly volatile Indo-Pak border, while around 60 will be deployed on the Indo-Bangla border. In total, 595 women constables will be deployed on the border in different phases.
List of Chiefs of BSF
Wagah Border Flag Lowering Ceremony
BSF at Wagah
Every evening, at the Wagah border, which is the international border of India and Pakistan, the BSF together with the neighbouring country's border guarding, the Pakistan Rangers conduct a military drill while lowering the respective national flags. This attracts a good number of spectators from both countries, as well as international tourists. Similar parades are being organised at Mahavir/Sadqi border near Fazilka and Hussainiwala/Gandasinghwala border near Firozpur.
Counter-Insurgency Operations
Although originally charged with guarding India's external boundaries, the BSF has more recently been given the task in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations in Jammu And Kashmir, Punjab, North East. While in Punjab BSF took Part in Operation 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 Kashmirstate police and the thinly-deployed Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) struggled to cope up with the spiraling violence, and the Indian government deployed the BSF toJammu and Kashmir to combat separatist militants.
The BSF initially suffered casualties from insurgent attacks but later saw successes, including the arrest of militant leaders, after setting up an intelligence network and working with local civilians. BSF contribution in reducing militancy in J&K is widely acknowledged. The BSF killed 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 inSrinagar and he was killed in the ensuing gun battle along with his deputy chief.
Despite the BSF's success in a counter-terrorism role, many in the government felt that this additional burden was leading to a dilution of the BSF's mandate and degrading the force's ability to perform its primary role of guarding the country's borders. In 2006 the Indian government has decided to implement recommendations to restrict each security agency to its mandate. Thus the 16 BSF battalions in Jammu and Kashmir are gradually being withdrawn from counter-insurgency duties and diverted back to guard the Indo-Pak border. They are being replaced by fresh units from the CRPF that have undergone specialised training in counter-terrorism. But the CRPF is yet to take over sensitive places like Tral. The 16 battalions being withdrawn from J&K were supposed to provide R&R to the battalions already deployed on the border. But with increasing Naxal violence in Central India, government decided to diversify the Anti-Naxal operation with the induction of ITBP and BSF. BSF was 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 Naxal menace.
Organisation
Women personnel of BSF taking part in the ceremonial retreat at the India-Pakistan border at Wagah, 2010.
Border personnel from both countries, during the Wagah Border ceremony.
The Border Security Force has its Headquarters at New Delhi and is known as Force Headquarters (FHQ) 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 (FtrHQ). There are 10 such Frontier under which Sector Headquarters (SHQ) function headed by a DIG each. There are 31 such Sectors. Each SHQ has under its command 4–5 Duty Battalions. Presently 186 Battalions are sanctioned to BSF. Five major training institutions and 10 Subsidiary Training Centres (STCs) are imparting ab-initio as well as in-service training to its ranks and other CPOs/SPOs including IPS Probationers.
BSF is the only Central Armed Police force to have its own Air Wing, Marine Wing and artillery regiments, which support the General Duty Battalions in their operations. The Financial Adviser of the BSF has been anIndian Revenue Service officer of the rank of Joint Secretary and also has Dy Advisers from the Indian Audit and Accounts Service and Indian Civil Account Service.
The BSF also has a national level school for breeding and training of dogs. Dogs from other CPOs and State Police are sent to National Training Centre for Dogs (NTCD) to be trained in infantry patrol, detection of explosives, tracking and the like.
The BSF maintains a Tear Smoke Unit (TSU), which is unique in India. The TSU is responsible for producing tear gas munitions required for the Anti-Riot Forces. 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(NDRF). 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. The battalions are equipped and trained for all natural disasters including combating Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) disasters.
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