BSF incident will be solved through talks: Pranab

Days after eight BSF soldiers were suspended for allegedly stripping and beating a man along the India-Bangladesh border, the government said on Saturday that the two countries would solve the problem through discussions, and the issue should not be hyped.

“Such incidents take place at times, and there is no use blowing them up unnecessarily. The authorities concerned of the two countries would solve the problem through discussions,” Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters here.

He was answering a question whether the incident would have any adverse impact on the bilateral relations.

A video showing a man being stripped and beaten allegedly by BSF jawans in West Bengal's Murshidabad district was aired recently by some channels.

Later, Mr. Mukherjee, along with his Bangladeshi counterpart Abul Mal Abdul Muhith, inaugurated a system standard operating procedure for the movement of crew handling vehicles transporting cargos at the Petrapole checkpoint in North 24 Parganas district.

The system will facilitate smooth transport.