{"id":122076,"date":"2022-01-12T16:30:45","date_gmt":"2022-01-12T23:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=122076"},"modified":"2022-01-12T16:30:45","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T23:30:45","slug":"border-killings-detrimental-to-the-india-bangladesh-bilateral-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2022\/01\/12\/border-killings-detrimental-to-the-india-bangladesh-bilateral-ties\/","title":{"rendered":"Border killings: detrimental to the India-Bangladesh bilateral ties?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mehjabin Bhanu \u00a0Rajshahi Bangladesh<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

No\none has the right to kill a citizen at the border. This is a clear violation of\nhuman rights and international law. We need to intensify our foreign policy and\ndiplomatic efforts to reduce border killings to zero. According to Human Rights\nWatch, between 2000 and 2019, the BSF shot and killed at least 1,165\nBangladeshis on the Bangladesh-India borders. The friendly relations between\nthe two countries need to be taken into account by the Indian Border Security\nForce. They have to understand that there is no war on the border. Shooting\nalone cannot be the answer. If a citizen crosses the border unknowingly, by\nmistake or illegally, arrangements must be made to hand them over to the BGB or\nlocal police as per the agreement. Friendly relations with the Indian\nauthorities need to be developed at various meetings, conferences and\ngovernment level meetings. As promised, border killings must be reduced to\nzero. Besides, surveillance at the border should be increased. We need to make\nour people aware so that they do not cross the border illegally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where\nis the end of border killings? There was a lot of talk between India and\nBangladesh about border killings. Until the agreement. Our friendly country\nIndia is constantly killing the ordinary farmers and small traders of\nBangladesh from the border areas. Many Bangladeshi nationals are being killed\nevery year by indiscriminate firing by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF),\nwhich we never expect from friendly India. India’s enemy states are Pakistan\nand China, their borders are never shot dead by an ordinary citizen of India,\nPakistan or China. India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, the border countries of\nIndia, if ordinary citizens can live very peacefully on their borders, then why\nwe, the friendly state of Bangladesh, are disgusted with the BSF of India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthe last 10 years, more than 1,000 people have been killed by Indian security\nforces, most of them Bangladeshis. The border area turned into a South Asian\nkilling field. Despite clear evidence of cold-blooded killings against unarmed\nand helpless locals in many cases, no one has yet been charged with murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India\nalso shares a border with China, Pakistan. There are border issues. But there\nbut India does not fire like this. Not only cattle are smuggled across the\nBangladesh-India border, but also phencidyl, drugs and illegal weapons come\nfrom India. The BSF does not see that. And cows don’t just come from West\nBengal. Comes from different provinces of India. Why not stop there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bangladesh\nForeign Minister AK Abdul Momen said in Dhaka last year, “Border killings\nare a shame for India. It has been decided between the two countries that no\nlethal weapons will be used on the border. No shots will be fired. But it is\nhappening. So, it is a shame for them.” And sadly, we are losing our\nlives. “<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile,\nat a function in Dinajpur last year, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh\nVikram Kumar Doraiswamy said that the border killings were definitely sad and\nunexpected for both the countries. Indian border guards have been specifically\ntold not to open fire on the border if there is no threat of an attack on them.\nWe do not want border killings in any country. Border killings are a heinous\nact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite\nrepeated promises from the highest levels of India to stop border killings, it\nhas not stopped. As soon as they talked about bringing the border killings down\nto zero, the border killings started again. Now time to implement their\nsayings. Indian authority should consider this with special attention. We want\nto see the proper implementation of the political dialogue. There is no justice\nin filing a case in specific cases like Felani’s murder. As a result, there is\nno reason for the BSF to stop. But this time, they should understand this that\nit may be an obstacle to introduce themselves as India-Bangladesh eternal ties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According\nto Indian authorities, the BSF killed in self-defense. But reality does not say\nthat. Several years ago, Human Rights Watch (HRW) cited a number of such cases\nin a report called Trigger Happy. Survivors and eyewitnesses allege that the\nBSF fired indiscriminately without trying to apprehend or warn them. The BSF\nalso claimed that its members fired when the miscreants tried to avoid arrest.\nHowever, the use of lethal weapons on suspicion of any crime is not justified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although\nrelations with India have improved, they are not reflected on the border, even\nin the overall context. It was decided in the bilateral talks that the BSF\nwould use non-lethal weapons. So that the killings at the border can be brought\ndown to zero. But then why the use of deadly weapons? Border killings cannot go\non like this. The governments of Bangladesh and India should now find the right\nsolution, to stop border killings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nfailure of the Indian authorities to take any meaningful action to stop the\nkillings at the border for years is detrimental\nto the India-Bangladesh bilateral ties. This has put the Bangladesh government\nin a difficult position by increasing the pressure on bilateral relations. Now\nis the time Dhaka policymakers to take action to come to the right conclusion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mehjabin Bhanu \u00a0Rajshahi Bangladesh No one has the right to kill a citizen at the border. This is a clear violation of human rights and international law. We need to intensify our foreign policy and diplomatic efforts to reduce border killings to zero. According to Human Rights Watch, between 2000 and 2019, the BSF shot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122076\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}