At least 34 people were killed by the Indian Border Security Force by either being shot or being tortured during the first 11 months of the interim government鈥檚 tenure, while the figure was 30 in 2024 and 31 in 2023, according to rights group Ain O Salish Kendra data.
Border killings are on the rise despite repeated promises made by the Indian government and the BSF to bring it down to zero.
At least two more Bangladeshi youths were killed and another was injured in BSF firing on the Indian side opposite to Bashpaudia border point under Parshuram upazila in Feni district early Friday.
The deceased are Md Millat Hossain, 21, and Md Liton, 32 and injured Md Afsar, 31. All of them hailed from Bashpadua village, according to local people and Border Guard Bangladesh officials.
In a four-day-long director general-level conference of Bangladeshi and Indian border forces in February 17鈥�20 in New Delhi, BGB DG Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui once again urged his Indian counterpart Daljit Singh Chawdhary to bring down the border killings to zero.
Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies president retired Major General ANM Muniruzzaman said that the killings could not be controlled because of not getting expected help from the Indian side and failure of the Bangladesh government in pressing India.
鈥業 can say that the Bangladesh government could not press the issue at such level in India where it would be effective,鈥� he explained.
He said that India did not pay any heed to Bangladesh for its weak policy of the foreign ministry, including mismanagement and static status.
About the Friday鈥檚 border killings in Feni, BGB officials quoting local people said that they had entered India crossing the zero line with barbed wire fencing and three people were injured in BSF firing at about 1:00am on Friday.
They said that Millat and Afsar managed to return to Bangladesh territory while local people got them admitted to Feni 250 General Hospital, where Millat died in the morning.
BGB officials also said that BSF personnel took injured Liton to Bilonia Hospital in India where he died in the morning.
Commanding officer of BGB-4 Battalion in Feni Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain said that two Bangladeshi youths were killed and one was injured in BSF firing at about 1:00am.
鈥楤GB members went to the spot after hearing the news from local people. Three youths had entered Indian territory to fetch smuggled goods. We have contacted the BSF to bring the Liton鈥檚 body back from India,鈥� said Mosharraf.
He also said that they would convey protest to the BSF over the incident.
Dhaka University鈥檚 Peace and Conflict Studies department associate professor Muhammad Sazzad Hossain Siddiqui said that if the interim government could give attention to the regional strategic politics, the border killings would have come down to more than half.
He said that the number of border killings was almost the same during the adversarial relations between India and Bangladesh compared with the so-called friendly relations during the previous Awami League government.
鈥楾he interim government has been failing to hold a strong position in this regard,鈥� he added.
Although Bangladesh authorities have taken various security measures, India has pushed about 2,000 people into Bangladesh, including Indian nationals and Rohingyas, since May 7 without following legal procedures while there have also been incidents of crude bomb explosions, firing sound grenades, flying drones, and opening fire along bordering areas in Bangladesh and inside India, according to BGB officials.
Border killings by the Indian BSF happened every month excepting November in 2024 since the ouster of Sheikh Hasina on August 5 amid a student-led mass uprising in the year, when she fled to India, the statistics show.
ASK data show that at least 15 Bangladeshis were killed and 29 others injured in BSF firing and beating from January to June this year.
Of the dead in the six months, two were killed in January, one in February, three in March, five in April, two in May, and two in June.
In 2024, two were killed in August, two in September, three in October, none in November and six in December.
According to Bangladesh authorities, Bangladesh has 4,156 kilometres of border with India, of which some 180 kilometres fall on different water bodies and 79 kilometres on the Sundarbans.
