Border Killing

Although Indian Borders Security Force promised several times of not killing anyone along the border, it’s never kept it’s promise and consequently such unprovoked killing on borders have not decreased. Members of the security force killed 86 Bangladesh nationals along Dinajpur border in the last seven years, raising concern over human rights violation. This was revealed at a roundtable at Dinajpur Press Club on Sunday, 30 Sep, 2013.
Relief International with support from Rights of Labour and US State Department organized the discussion titled “Human Rights on Bangladesh-India Border”. Giving the statistics of year-wise killing, the speakers said the BSF troops had killed 21 Bangladeshis in 2007, 12 in 2008, 19 in 2009, 8 in 2010, 11 in 2011, 13 in 2012, and two in last eight months of the ongoing year. Apart from shooting to death, members of the security forces abducted a numbers of Bangladeshis from the border areas and later tortured them to death they said. Press Club President Chitta Ghosh, Nayek Subedar Nazmul Hasan of Dinajpur-2 BGB and Vice-president of Dinajpur Chamber of Commerce Anwarul Islam, among others, spoke at the roundtable. The speakers said the BSF troops killed the Bangladeshi nationals by firing gunshots while they were working in their own fields adjacent to the border.
Usually, after a killing and abduction incident, a flag meeting held between BSF and Border Gourd Bangladesh authorities that ultimately cannot bring any positive results, the speakers observed. The speakers also stressed the need for setting up mills and industries to ensure employment for the people living near the border as they engage in smuggling through the borders for want of regular source of income.
According to available information, BSF have killed nearly 1,000 Bangladeshis, including children, along the borders in the last 10 years.