Govt, people protest at BSF DG remarks
* Govt keeps protesting at border killing: Foreign Minister
* Firing in the border cannot be stopped: BSF DG
* Border killing under no circumstances acceptable: BGB DG
* Shooting at civilians in border a breach of int'l law: NHRC chair
* Border killing may damage diplomatic ties: DU teacher
* Border killing negates India's earlier assurances: Odhikar
The government and a cross-section of the people on Thursday protested
at the remark India's Border Security Force chief made in an interview
with the BBC Bengali Service that firing in the border could not be
stopped.
Experts said that such a remark would only encourage the Indian border
guards to shoot at Bangladeshis in the frontiers, which is 'a
violation of international law' and will have 'a negative impact on
diplomatic relations between the two neighbours.'
The Border Security Force director general, UK Bansal, said that it
was not possible for the Indian guards to stop firing in the
Bangladesh-India border.
The Bangladesh foreign minister, Dipu Moni, and the Border Guard
Bangladesh director general, Anwar Hossain, protested at Bansal's
remark.
'Firing in the border can never be stopped totally… So long criminal
activities would continue to take place along the India-Bangladesh
border, the BSF will have to prevent those offences and it is the duty
of the force,' said the BSF chief in the interview with the BBC
Bengali Service on Tuesday.
Asked for comments, the National Human Rights Commission chairman,
Mizanur Rahman, also protested at the
BSF chief's statement saying that shooting at civilians in the border
was a violation of international law.
He believed that such a remark would adversely affect the relationship
between the two countries.
Dhaka University international relations department chair Delwar
Hossain said that this was an irresponsible statement as Bangladesh
had been assured several times by the Indian government that there
would be no more firing by the BSF personnel on Bangladeshi civilians
in the border.
He said that this might have a damaging impact on the diplomatic
relations between the two countries.
Bansal made the comments at a time when human rights organisations and
the media across the world, even in India, are levelling allegations
that incidents of killing and torture of Bangladeshis by the Indian
border guards are increasing.
'The Bangladesh government has been continuously protesting against
these incidents of killing, firing and torture [by BSF]. The Indian
government agrees with the Bangladesh government that these incidents
in the border areas will not occur,' Dipu Moni said at a discussion in
Chandpur.
The foreign minister said that the two governments were trying to end
such border killing.
The Border Guard Bangladesh director general, Anwar Hossain, on
Thursday said that killing in the border under any circumstances was
not acceptable.
'Our standpoint is very clear. We do not shoot. We do not shoot at
Indian trespassers. We arrest and try them under the laws of our land.
We strictly follow the International Human Rights convention,' he told
news agency the United News of Bangladesh.
Former director general of the Bangladesh Rifles, now renamed as the
Border Guard Bangladesh, Fazlur Rahman termed Bansal's statement
provocative.
He said that the BSF chief's attitude showed that India wanted to
establish a master-servant relation with Bangladesh.
According to rights organisation Odhikar, the Indian border guards
have killed 935 Bangladeshis and injured 681 since January 2000.
The Indian guards have killed 205 and injured 220 Bangladeshis since
January 6, 2009, when the ruling Awami League-led alliance assumed
office.
The BSF chief's remarks blatantly negated the repeated assurances
Indian authorities gave to Bangladesh.
The Indian home minister, P Chidambaram, during a visit to Dhaka,
announced on July 30, 2011 that the BSF would use non-lethal weapons
and that they would no longer shoot at civilians under any
circumstances.
The television screening of recent brutal torture of a Bangladeshi
young man, Habibur Rahman, of Chapainawabganj, by the BSF sparked an
uproar by civil society and international human rights watchdogs.
Even leading Indian daily newspaper the Hindu on January 24 asked the
Indian government to apologise to Bangladesh for such inhuman torture.
The Hindu in the editorial on January 24 said, 'New Delhi needs to
make an unreserved apology to Bangladesh for the brutal conduct of its
Border Security Force personnel who were seen in a recent video
footage torturing a Bangladeshi man.'
The New York-based international rights watchdog, Human Rights Watch,
on January 31 asked the Indian government to prosecute the personnel
of its Border Security Force responsible for the recent torture on
Bangladeshis along the border.
The Indian government should prosecute members of the security forces
responsible for recent high-profile cases of torture to send a message
that such practices would no longer be tolerated, Human Rights Watch
said in a statement.
In a report headlined 'Bangladesh-India border: Wall of Death' posted
online on January 4, the GlobalPost said the barbed-wire fence
installed by India along the border 'is the world's longest — and
bloodiest — barbed wire fence.'
'Dubbed the "wall of death" by locals, the 4,000km barrier spans the
length of the fifth-longest border in the world, and is manned by the
BSF, whose guards kill both Bangladeshis and Indians with impunity,'
the report said.
Although the Indian border guards claim that they open fire only to
contain border crimes including smuggling, the killing of young girl
Felani sparked a huge criticism across the world.
Fifteen-year-old Felani Khatun was shot dead by the BSF from close
range on January 7, 2011 when she climbed up and reached the top of
the 2.5 metre high fence.
http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/frontpage/49842.html
http://www.amardeshonline.com/pages/details/2012/02/10/130876
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