Shawdesh Desk:

Killing of Bangladesh nationals by the Indian Border Security Force in the borders go unabated despite repeated pledges made the neighbour reduce the border killings to zero.

According to human rights organisation Ain O Salish Kendra, 13 Bangladeshis were killed in the first six months of this year, while the number was 10 in the same period in 2023.

Border killings continue as the BSF shows hardly any sign to implement the pledges made by their government and the force leaders to reduce the border killing to zero.

The two neighbours politically agreed to bring down the border killings to zero in the bilateral talks between the Bangladesh prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, in New Delhi on June 22.

Foreign minister Hasan Mahmud made the disclosure at a briefing on the bilateral talks.

‘So, the issue came up for discussion to end the border killings,’ he added.

In the 54th director general-level border conference in Dhaka in March, the Border Guard Bangladesh chief urged his Indian counterpart to adopt ‘necessary measures’ to reduce the border killings to zero, considering the ‘sound bilateral relation’ between the two neighbours.

In response, the Indian Border Security Force director general, Nitin Agrawal, has renewed his promise to bring down the number of shooting deaths or injuries of Bangladeshi civilians along their shared border to zero.

The same pledge were made time and gain in different bilateral talks and border conferences.

Eleven Bangladeshis were injured in firing and torture by the BSF in the border between January and June this year, the right body report showed.

The Ain O Salish Kendra documented that 30 Bangladeshis were killed by the Indian BSF in 2023, while the number was 23, including 16 shooting deaths, in 2022, and 17, including 16 shooting deaths, in 2021.

Article 19 regional director Faruq Faisel told New Age that there had been talks about these killings by the Indian BSF for a long time but Indian government did not seem to take these incidents very seriously.

‘There is no reason to believe that our government has any opinion either to address this matter,’ he said, adding that only India’s goodwill and Bangladesh’s strong position can stop these continuous border killings.

On Saturday night, the BSF returned the body of Raju Mia, a 20-year-old Bangladeshi, who was shot dead in the Nagarbhita border under Baliadangi in Thakurgaon.

Raju was killed when the BSF opened fire early Friday as he had crossed into Indian Territory to bring cattle.

At least 1,236 Bangladeshis were killed and 1,145 injured in shootings by the Indian border force between 2000 and 2020, according to rights organisation, Odhikar.

Bangladesh and India share a 4,096-kilometre international border, the fifth-longest land border in the world, comprising 262km with the Indian state of Assam, 856km with Tripura, 318km with Mizoram, 443km with Meghalaya, and 2,217km with West Bengal.