Roni Akand Joypurhat Special Representative:

Three people, including an old couple, who were staying at the zero line of West Ramkrishnapur border of Joypurhat Sadar Upazila, have not been seen since Sunday morning. Differences have been found in the statements of local residents and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) regarding their evacuation.

According to the local residents, the BGB took three people after the relatives came to the border from Narail on Saturday night.

However, Shamsuzzaman, commander of Bhutiapara BOP under BGB-14 Patnitala Battalion, claimed that the Indian Border Guard Force (BSF) removed them from the zero line on Saturday night.

According to the residents of the border area, the BSF turned off the floodlights of the border early on Saturday and pushed five people to Bangladesh. Two of them entered Bangladesh and fled quickly. Villagers arrested an old man and two women from the border road. Later, when the matter was reported to the BGB, they went to the spot and took the three people to the Zero Line. Since then, they were under the protection of BGB.

According to the national identity cards of the arrested persons, the old man's name is Sheikh Hafizur Rahman and his wife's name is Nachima Begum. Their home is in Bhatpara village of Lohagra upazila of Narail. Other women with them are their close relatives. They were in the country's jail due to visa complications after traveling to India for medical treatment through brokers a few months ago.

After the incident was published in various media yesterday, their relatives from Narail came to the border. Sohag Sheikh, son of Sheikh Hafizur Rahman and Nachima Begum. He is the former joint convener of Narail Municipal Chhatra Dal. According to local people, he reached there in a microbus on Saturday night.

However, Sohag Sheikh, the son of Hafizur-Nashima couple, claimed that he could not bring his parents with him. He said on the phone that his parents went to India for treatment five months ago. Initially they were in contact but there was no contact for about a month. He went there at night after seeing the video of their arrest at Joypurhat border on Saturday morning. But parents were not allowed to come with them. He is trying to contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to bring them back to the country.

At least 10 residents of the border-adjacent village said the three remained at zero till 9pm on Saturday. Later BGB members ordered them not to go out of the house. They woke up early Sunday morning and did not see anyone else on the zero line. They believe that the three people were evacuated at night.