The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist party said on Saturday that the Indian Border Security Force went on a killing spree along the border between Bangladesh and India.
Expressing concern over injuring three Bangladeshi nationals by the Indian Border Security Force firing in the Bangladesh territory near the Hatibandha border in Lalmonirhat, the BNP said that the spree started due to inaction of the Bangladesh government.
At least three Bangladeshis, including a farmer, were injured as the BSF shot at them reportedly entering the Bangladesh territory near the Hatibandha border in Lalmonirhat on Friday.
Issuing a statement over the issue, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that the shooting and wounding of three Bangladeshis before the visit of the prime minister of Bangladesh to India proved once again that the Bangladesh government is silent about the killing and wounding of Bangladeshis by the BSF at the border.
鈥楢nd that鈥檚 why the killing of Bangladeshis on the border has started,鈥� he said.
鈥楻ecently, the Indian Border Security Force entered Bangladesh and opened fire on women as well. Torture, killing and wounding of Bangladeshis at the border is still going on in full swing,鈥� he said.
But the Bangladesh government does not care about the safety of the lives and property of the Bangladeshi people at the border because of its knee-jerk policy, he said, adding that the blueprint is being implemented to destroy independence and sovereignty of Bangladesh and turn the country into a weak state just to keep the illegal power in its possession.
鈥極nly if the people鈥檚 government is established through free and fair elections can the security of the country and the people be ensured,鈥� he said.
According to the quarterly report of the human rights group Ain O Salish Kendra, the trend of killing Bangladeshi nationals on the Bangladesh-India border by the BSF is rising with at least six Bangladeshis being killed in the first three months of this year, while it was four in the same period in 2023.
The ASK said that at least two Bangladeshi nationals were killed by the BSF every month on an average.
At least 1,236 Bangladeshis were killed and 1,145 injured in shootings by the Indian border force between 2000 and 2020, according to another rights organisation, Odhikar.
ASK data showed that 23 people were killed along the India-Bangladesh border between January 2021 and June 2022.
Bangladesh and India share a 4,096-kilometre-long international border, the fifth-longest land border in the world, comprising 262km with the Indian state of Assam, 856km with Tripura, 318km with Mizoram, 443km with Meghalaya, and 2,217km with West Bengal.
