Border killing rise matter of concern: FM

A sharp rise in border killing was a matter of concern for the government, foreign minister AK Abdul Momen said on Wednesday.

Thirty-seven Bangladeshis were killed in border shootings in a sharp rise compared to the previous year, he told journalists at the foreign ministry, adding that the matter was discussed at the co-ordination conference between Border Guard Bangladesh and Border Security Force of India in New Delhi in this week.

‘We want that no lethal weapon would be used and killings along the border would come to zero,’ he said. 

Forty-three Bangladeshi were killed by Indians in bordering area and 37 of them were shot dead in 2019, according to rights group Ain o Salish Kendra senior coordinator Abu Ahmed Faijul Kabir.

Six Bangladesh citizens were tortured to death in separate incidents in India, he said.

The last Bangladeshi was killed along the border on December 25 as the BGB and BSF chiefs were set to attend a coordination conference in the Indian capital next day. 

Fourteen Bangladeshi were shot dead by Indians in 2018, according to ASK.

The Indian side reportedly claimed in the meeting with the BGB in New Delhi that non-lethal weapon policy ‘is strictly followed by BSF personal on the border’ and ‘BSF does not discriminate between criminals based on nationality.’  

Successive Indian prime ministers, including Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi, were pledge-bound to their Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina, in all their meetings since 2011, to bring border killing to zero and introduce non-lethal weapons along the border.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net