The number of border killings by the Indian Border Security Force along the Bangladesh-India border has increased this year compared to the past two years, despite several commitments made at the state level.
Rights group Ain O Salish Kendra statistics showed that at least 22 Bangladeshis were shot dead between January 1 and November 30, 2023.
Three other shooting deaths were reported in Chapainawabganj and Lalmonirhat in the first week of December, raising the number of Bangladeshis killed along the Indian border to 25 between January 1 and December 5.
The ASK reported 23 deaths along the border in 2022, including 16 shooting deaths.
In 2021, the number of shooting deaths was 16, and another was tortured to death.
The rights group recorded 42 shooting deaths in 2020.
Border killings dropped slightly in 2021 after the then BSF chief, Rakesh Asthana, in a joint press conference following the 50th border conference concluded in Dhaka in September 2020, promised to bring the number of such killings to zero.
Later in September 2022, both countries once again agreed to work towards bringing the number of ‘deaths due to incidents’ down to zero along the border during a bilateral meeting between Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi.
Data showed that at least 31 Bangladeshis were shot dead between October 1, 2022, and December 5, since a joint statement issued following the visit of Hasina noted with ‘satisfaction’ the ‘significantly reduced’ number of deaths along the border.
Asked, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan refused to comment on the issue, saying that he did not have an official figure available.
Calling the border killings a ‘blatant violation of international laws,’ former National Human Rights Commission chairman Mizanur Rahman said that such killings of Bangladeshi people were affecting people-to-people relations in both countries.
Human rights activist and former executive director of ASK, Mohammad Nur Khan, said that those who were being killed were unarmed. He expressed doubt about whether the Indian government paid heed to the call of the Bangladesh government due to ‘poor diplomatic strategy.’
Bangladesh shares a 4,156-kilometre land border with five Indian states, one of the largest land borders between two countries in the world.
‘Do we see a similar pattern of killing on Indian borders with other countries?’ Nur Khan asked.
No senior officers of the Border Guard Bangladesh, including its director general, agreed to make comments.
At least 1,236 Bangladeshis were killed and 1,145 injured in the shooting by the Indian border force between 2000 and 2020, according to rights group Odhikar.
New Age
