The Indian government's promise to stop border killings has not been executed during the past years. Bangladeshis are losing their lives one after another in firing by Indian border guards. At least 25 people lost their lives in shootings and torture on the Bangladesh-India border in last year.
Every year, a high-level conference is held between the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and the Indian Border Security Force (BSF).
India has always promised to reduce border killings to zero. But there is no reflection of those promises.
Fourteen years after Felani's killing and the attempt to erect a barbed wire fence, the border killing issue has resurfaced. On the occasion of Felani Murder Day on January 7, her family has demanded that the Indians involved in the murder of the teenager Felani be brought to justice.
On January 7, while demands were being made in various districts, including Dhaka, for an international trial of the Felani murder and for the government to play an effective role in stopping border killings, another killing took place on the border. It has been alleged that the BSF killed a man named Zahur Ali and took his body away at the border in Chunarughat upazila of Habiganj.
Earlier, the bullet-riddled body of a tea worker named Gopal was recovered from the Barlekha border in Moulvibazar on December 22.
The family claimed that Gopal was shot dead by the BSF when he inadvertently approached the zero line of the border while trying to bring bamboo from the mountains. However, other workers who were with him escaped and survived.
A Bangladeshi youth named Kamal Hossain was killed in BSF firing on the border of Comilla Sadar Dakshin Upazila on the evening of October 7. After the killing, the BSF took his body away and returned it after 26 hours. The family claimed that Kamal used to break ant nests and sell ant eggs. He was not involved in any kind of smuggling.
Regarding killings on the border, former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh Kazi Reazul Hoque told this correspondent, "The issue is very serious and a violation of human rights. The foreign and home ministries of the two countries must take immediate and active steps to stop the killings on the border. Both countries have legal systems. However, killing people in violation of the law on the border undoubtedly worsens the human rights situation. It also creates major problems in bilateral relations."
Political analysts and those involved in human rights protection activities believe that despite the killings that took place one after another along the border during the previous Awami League government's tenure, they were not seen taking any effective action.
The current interim government has strongly criticised India over the border killings after the change of power on August 5, 2024 but the killings have not stopped. Even after August 5, several killings have been committed along the border by the BSF.
In July 2019, the then Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal had said in a question-and-answer session in Parliament that 294 Bangladeshis were killed by the BSF at the border in the 10 years from 2009 to 2018. Of these, 66 were killed in 2009, 55 in 2010, 24 in 2011, 24 in 2012, 18 in 2013, 24 in 2014, 38 in 2015, 25 in 2016, 17 in 2017 and 3 in 2018.
Although no official figures have been available since then, statistics from the human rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) say that 37 people were killed and 48 injured at the border in 2019, while 42 were killed and 26 were injured in 2020, 16 killed and 9 injured in 2021, 23 killed and 15 injured due to shooting and torture in 2022, 28 people were killed and 31 injured in 2023, and 25 killed in 2024.
Meanwhile, the BGB statement said on Sunday that BGB has arrested 155 Indian citizens, 14,336 Myanmar citizens, and 2,678 Bangladeshi citizens for crossing the border during raids conducted from January 1 to December 31, 2024. Following the arrests, legal action was taken against 17,169 people from the three countries.
Not only common people, but also the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) members are facing hostile behaviour by the BSF. Members of this force are also being killed.
On January 22 last year, BGB member Mohammad Rais Uddin was killed by BSF firing at the Dhanyakhola border in Sharsha upazila of Jessore. On that day, at around 5:30 am, a BGB patrol team saw a group of cow smugglers from India crossing the border in the area adjacent to the Jelepara post of the Dhanyakhola BOP of the BGB Jessore battalion. When the patrol team members challenged them, they tried to run towards India. At that time, BGB patrol member Rais Uddin got separated from his team due to dense fog while chasing smugglers. Initially, he could not be found, but later it was reported through various media that he was injured by BSF firing and was undergoing treatment in a hospital in India.
Later, on the morning of March 9, in response to questions from journalists at a joint press conference on the last day of the 54th BGB-BSF Director General-level border conference in Dhaka, BGB Director General (DG) Major General Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui said that the death of BGB member Rais Uddin was not a target killing. BGB and BSF members were hesitant about the matter as it was dark and foggy that day. There was a misunderstanding between the two parties.
BSF's DG Nitin Agarwal told reporter that day, "Citizens of India and Bangladesh sometimes die on the border. Although we are making every effort so that no one is killed. We have changed our weapons policy on the Bangladesh border. We have introduced the use of non-lethal weapons on the border. The real purpose of this is to reduce border killings to a minimum."
At that time, both sides agreed to strengthen joint patrols to reduce the number of killings, injuries, and beatings on the border to zero. But this did not materialise in reality.
Home Affairs Adviser Lieutenant General (Retd.) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury told reporters at the training graduation parade of the 102nd recruit batch of BGB in Satkania on December 31 that Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) members have been instructed to show 'their chest, not its back', at the border under any circumstances. He also said that all-out efforts are being made to stop killings at the India-Bangladesh border.
Dhaka University's International Relations Department Professor Dr Amena Mohsin told this correspondent, "India has repeatedly assured us that there will be no torture or killings on the border. But no solution is coming. We should also see whether international human rights organisations investigate the killings on the border."
She also said that in this regard, it is very important for the governments of the two countries and international organisations to take coordinated initiatives. Strengthening security on the border, legal agreements, and discussions and cooperation between the two countries are important. It is the moral responsibility of the governments of the two countries to respect human rights and ensure security on the border.
