Members of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) killed 86 Bangladesh
nationals along Dinajpur border during the last seven years.
This was revealed at a roundtable at Dinajpur Press Club on Sunday.
Relief International with support from Human Rights of Labour and US
State Department hosted the roundtable titled ‘Human Rights on
Bangladesh-India Border’.
Giving the statistics of year-wise killings, the speakers said the BSF
troops killed 21 Bangladeshis in 2007, 12 in 2008, 19 in 2009, 8 in
2010, 11 in 2011, 13 in 2012, and 2 in last eight months of the
ongoing year.
Press Club president Chitta Ghosh, Nayek Subedar Nazmul Hasan of
Dinajpur-2 BGB, and vice-president of local Chamber of Commerce
Anwarul Islam, among others, spoke at the roundtable.
The speakers said the BSF troops killed the Bangladesh nationals by
firing gunshots or through hacking while they were working in their
own fields adjacent to the border.
They said though the BSF authorities have time and again promised not
to kill people along the border, but such unprovoked killings on
borders have not decreased.
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. -UNB, Dinajpur
