Lethal weapon or not, Indian BSF continue killing
The Indian border guards continue to kill unarmed Bangladeshi
civilians in the border regions of the country. According to a report
published on the front page of New Age on Monday, a 32-year old
Bangladeshi cattle trader, Rafiqul Islam, was killed at the hands of
the BSF on Sunday at the Burimari border. What is noteworthy in the
incident is that, following an agreement on the use of 'non-lethal
weapons' along the border of the two countries, signed by respective
chiefs of BSF and Bangladesh Border Guards (BGB) in March this year,
the BSF has now resorted to medieval tactic of killing Bangladeshis,
by stoning them, stabbing them, hitting them with rifle butts or
running speeding boats over them.
Furthermore, there seems to have appeared a pattern of sending out a
message of defiance, in the conduct of BSF authorities, in that every
time a politically important event between the two countries takes
place, the BSF resorts to slaying unarmed Bangladeshis. On January 13,
2010, the day the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina and Indian premier Dr
Manmohan Singh issued a joint communiqué during Hasina's visit to New
Delhi, which also included mention of border killings and the need to
'exercise restraint', Shafiqul Islam (27), a Bangladeshi
cattle-trader, was stabbed to death by members of the BSF, near the
Satkhira border, his body dumped into the Kalindi River. Rafiqul,
meanwhile, was killed on the same day Congress Party chief Sonia
Gandhi arrived in Dhaka. While the political authorities in India have
time and again tried to appear sympathetic and expressed concern over
border killings, it appears, a section of its establishment, is bent
on conveying a different message.
According to the report published in New Age, Rafiq was caught by BSF
troops when he was returning to Bangladesh with six other cattle
traders, and beaten to death, and dumped into River Saniyazan, near
Burimari border in Lalmonirhat. Two days earlier, only on July 22, BSF
members dragged Selim Hossain (25), a young Bangladeshi farmer, from
his paddy field near a border pillar, to the Indian side, and beat him
with a rifle butt as he resisted. His body was found an hour later
hanging from a barbed-wire fence. On June 30, Mizanur Rahman (25), was
beaten to death by the BSF in exactly similar circumstances to that of
Rafiq, at the Burimari border.
According to rights organisation Odhikar, 35 Bangladeshis have been
killed by the BSF, since January to June of this year. It suffices to
say that the Indian authorities have completely missed the point of an
agreement on the use of non-lethal weapons. It seems the Indian
authorities are little interested in either stopping the killing of
unarmed Bangladeshis or to keep the Indo-Bangladesh border peaceful.
Instead, the agreement is so far being honoured on technical grounds,
completely ignoring the spirit of its content. Only the Indian
authorities know best what purpose it serves to continue to exert
undue lethal force on Bangladeshi civilians, when the government of
the countries regularly stress on building 'long-lasting ties'.
Killing of unarmed Bangladeshis by the BSF has been an issue plaguing
relations between the two countries for long, antagonising a large
section of the Bangladeshi population towards the entire Indian
political establishment. By alternating the use of lethal weapons with
the use of non-lethal ones to nonetheless cause lethal injury, the
Indian authorities are not just making a mockery of Bangladesh's
genuine grievances, but setting up the platform for more antagonism.
It is time the Indian establishment realised how detrimental such
actions and behaviours are to 'friendly ties' and take steps to reign
in elements within its establishment who are prompt at sending out
defiant messages.
http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/editorial/27503.html
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