The Canadian high commission in New Delhi may have sparked off a major diplomatic row by rejecting a former BSF head constable’s application for immigration and terming the Indian border force a notoriously violent paramilitary unit responsible for attacks on civilians and torturing suspected criminals.
Head constable Fateh Singh Pandher, who served in the BSF for several years, told reporters in Ludhiana’s Siar village: “Canadian officials were insulting in rejecting my application. They wrote to me accusing the BSF of war crimes and that I had not been able to show that I have disassociated from the force.”
In New Delhi, ministry of external affairs spokesman Vishnu Prakash said the matter “has been taken up appropriately with the Canadian side”. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to visit Canada in June for the G-8 and G-20 summits. “The interviewer accused the BSF of attacking and committing rapes of Muslims in J&K,” he said, adding, “He was not the least interested in anything I tried to say in defence of the BSF.”