Dhaka to take up border killings with New Delhi
April 12th, 2011 - 12:43 pm ICT by IANS
Dhaka, April 12 (IANS) Bangladesh has said it would “take up strongly” with New Delhi the issue of killing of its nationals by India’s Border Security Force (BSF).
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Monday asked the foreign and home ministers to take it up with their Indian counterparts, saying “killing of innocent citizens on the borders was not acceptable to Bangladesh”, a minister told New Age.
Presiding over the weekly cabinet meeting, Hasina noted that killings on the border by the BSF had continued despite repeated assurances from the Indian side to prevent such incidents.
She told her cabinet colleagues that the issue of border killings should feature prominently in the talks between Dhaka and New Delhi during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s upcoming visit to Bangladesh.
The dates of Manmohan Singh’s visit are yet to be decided.
Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram is expected to be in Dhaka ahead of Indian prime minister’s visit for talks with his counterpart Sahara Khatun, said officials.
The Indian border guards killed 907 Bangladeshis between Jan 1, 2000 and March 31, 2011, according to Bangladeshi rights watchdog Odhikar.
The prime minister’s directives came a day after BSF shot dead a Bangladeshi youth, Sanaullah, at Naogaon on the eastern border.
Bangladeshi media described the man as a “cattle trader” who was returning from India with cattle.
Sanaullah died on the spot Sunday when BSF personnel fired into a group of people returning to Bangladesh with cattle. BSF took away the body, the newspaper said.
The BSF says its men kill “in self defence” as many Bangladeshis who cross border during early hours are armed and are part of the organised smuggling of humans, cattle, arms and drugs.
The “unorganised trade” along the India-Bangladesh border is estimated at $3 billion annually.
The two countries last month agreed to work towards stopping the killings. India said the BSF personnel would be armed with rubber bullets and other non-lethal weapons so as not to kill while preventing unauthorised movement.
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