Border killings by BSF frustrate Dhaka
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BSF hands over teenage girls body, BGB to lodge protest
Shahidul Islam Chowdhury
Bangladesh is deeply disappointed by the repeated killing of Bangladeshi civilians by Indian border guards in violation of the rules of engagement.
It is frustrating and highly disappointing, the Border Guard Bangladesh director general, Rafiqul Islam, told New Age Saturday when his comments were sought after the latest such incident in which a Bangladeshi teenage girl was shot dead by the Indian Border Security Force on Kurigram border.
The BSF shot dead Felani, 15, after she was entangled in barbed wire on the Kurigram border, on Friday morning. The Indians then took away her body. They returned the body after a flag meeting with local BGB unit on Saturday.
In several ministerial, secretary and BGB-BSF directors general level talks between the two countries, the Indian authorities agreed on a rule of engagement that there will be no more firing on unarmed and innocent people, the BGB DG said.
We do not want any kind of firing on unarmed and innocent persons, he said.
According to the rules of engagement, an illegal intruder, if there is any, can be injured or detained for drawing legal proceedings, the BGB chief said.
But, unfortunately, they seem to be a bit trigger-happy, he said. Rafiqul Islam said the BGB had already formally protested against Felanis killing at the battalion and company levels of the border forces. A separate protest letter would also be sent to the BSFs DIG level authorities, he said.
The BGB DG said he had asked his troops in the borders to stay alert over incidents of killing innocent citizens.
Felani had been reportedly returning to Bangladesh with her father Nurul Islam Nuru, a resident of south Ramkhana under Nageswari upazila in Kurigram district, from Delhi where she worked, after her marriage had been settled with a local boy.
Nuru managed to cross over the barbed-wire fence to the Bangladesh side with the help of a ladder. Felani started screaming when her clothes got entangled in the barbed wire.
Hearing her screams, the BSF men shot her and took away the body, said Phulbari police chief Monayem Sarker.
The BSF handed over the girls body during a flag meeting between the local units of the two border guards on Saturday morning, New Age correspondent in Kurigram reported.
Felani was shot in her right shoulder and succumbed to the injury, sub-inspector Nuruzzaman of Phulbari police station, who prepared the inquest report after receiving the body, told New Age Saturday evening.
According to human rights organisation Odhikar, BSF kills one Bangladeshi every four days. The organisation has also claimed that in 2010, as many as 74 Bangladeshis were killed, 72 injured and 43 were abducted.
New York-based human rights group Human Rights Watch, in its new report published on December 9, said the Indian government should prosecute BSF soldiers responsible for serious human rights abuses like indiscriminate use of force, arbitrary detention, torture, and killings.
Font size:
BSF hands over teenage girls body, BGB to lodge protest
Shahidul Islam Chowdhury
Bangladesh is deeply disappointed by the repeated killing of Bangladeshi civilians by Indian border guards in violation of the rules of engagement.
It is frustrating and highly disappointing, the Border Guard Bangladesh director general, Rafiqul Islam, told New Age Saturday when his comments were sought after the latest such incident in which a Bangladeshi teenage girl was shot dead by the Indian Border Security Force on Kurigram border.
The BSF shot dead Felani, 15, after she was entangled in barbed wire on the Kurigram border, on Friday morning. The Indians then took away her body. They returned the body after a flag meeting with local BGB unit on Saturday.
In several ministerial, secretary and BGB-BSF directors general level talks between the two countries, the Indian authorities agreed on a rule of engagement that there will be no more firing on unarmed and innocent people, the BGB DG said.
We do not want any kind of firing on unarmed and innocent persons, he said.
According to the rules of engagement, an illegal intruder, if there is any, can be injured or detained for drawing legal proceedings, the BGB chief said.
But, unfortunately, they seem to be a bit trigger-happy, he said. Rafiqul Islam said the BGB had already formally protested against Felanis killing at the battalion and company levels of the border forces. A separate protest letter would also be sent to the BSFs DIG level authorities, he said.
The BGB DG said he had asked his troops in the borders to stay alert over incidents of killing innocent citizens.
Felani had been reportedly returning to Bangladesh with her father Nurul Islam Nuru, a resident of south Ramkhana under Nageswari upazila in Kurigram district, from Delhi where she worked, after her marriage had been settled with a local boy.
Nuru managed to cross over the barbed-wire fence to the Bangladesh side with the help of a ladder. Felani started screaming when her clothes got entangled in the barbed wire.
Hearing her screams, the BSF men shot her and took away the body, said Phulbari police chief Monayem Sarker.
The BSF handed over the girls body during a flag meeting between the local units of the two border guards on Saturday morning, New Age correspondent in Kurigram reported.
Felani was shot in her right shoulder and succumbed to the injury, sub-inspector Nuruzzaman of Phulbari police station, who prepared the inquest report after receiving the body, told New Age Saturday evening.
According to human rights organisation Odhikar, BSF kills one Bangladeshi every four days. The organisation has also claimed that in 2010, as many as 74 Bangladeshis were killed, 72 injured and 43 were abducted.
New York-based human rights group Human Rights Watch, in its new report published on December 9, said the Indian government should prosecute BSF soldiers responsible for serious human rights abuses like indiscriminate use of force, arbitrary detention, torture, and killings.
but its hard to control infiltration of ppl from BD,even after fencing.
