The recent decision of Home Ministry which has extendedthe jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF) across a 50-km stretch ofIndia's border in Punjab, empowering its officers with powers on par with statepolice, including the authority to arrest, conduct raids and seize, has notgone down well with Punjab’s former PPCC Chief Sunil Jakhar.
Sunil Jakhar took to twitter on Wednesday to share hisreaction on the development. Taking a dig at Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi,Jakhar in a tweet said, “Be careful what you ask for ! Has @CHARANJITCHANNI unwittinglymanaged to handover half of Punjab to Central govt. 25000sq km (out of total50,000sq km) has now been placed under BSF jurisdiction. Punjab Police stands castigated. Do we still want moreautonomy to States ?
It is pertinent to mention here that Punjab CM CharanjitSingh Channi last week met Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his home in Delhi todiscuss the violence in Uttar Pradesh and the farm laws.
CM Channi then said that he had urged Union Home MinisterAmit Shah to repeal the three farm laws. Besides, he had asked him to seal theinternational border with Punjab to curb trafficking of drugs & weapons.
Meanwhile, according to the MHA notification, the centralgovernment has revised the 'schedule,' defining the border stretch where theBSF will have search, seizure and arrest powers under Acts such as the PassportAct, NDPS Act, Customs Act, and Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to Manipur,Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Meghalaya; and UTs of J&K and Ladakh as wellas a 50-kilometre stretch in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Bengal, and Assam.
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Moreover, the extension of the BSF's jurisdiction intothe non-BJP states of Bengal and Punjab, which is governed by the Centre isexpected to cause tensions between the Centre and the state governments.