Rights bodies, student platforms and other organisations on Tuesday remembered the day of the killing of Felani Khatun by India鈥檚 Border Security Force 14 years ago with renewed protests and call to end border killings and Indian aggression against Bangladesh.
Ousted Awami League government and its prime minister Sheikh Hasina genuflected to India, failing to end the killings of Bangladesh nationals at border by the BSF, said rights activists, politicians and student leaders at a rally at Central Shaheed Minar in the capital, marking 14 years of Felani murder.
Organised by rights group Odhikar, the speakers at the rally also demanded the interim government to declare January 7, the day when Felani was killed, as 鈥楽imanta Hatya Pratirodh聽 Dibas鈥� (border killing prevention day).
They also demanded naming of the road on which the Indian High Commission in Dhaka was situated after Felani.聽聽
Odhikar president CR Abrar, who chaired the rally held in protest at the continued killing of Bangladeshi nationals by the Border Security Force and torture and enforced disappearances by Indian authorities, said, 鈥極ur previous government bowed down to India and did not raise voice protesting against the border killings. We have failed to ensure justice for border killings.鈥�
He said that the flag meetings between the Border Guard Bangladesh and Indian Border Security Forces were fruitless as they had turned to discussions about 鈥榟olding picnics鈥�, where border killings remained an absent subject.
鈥楾he BSF claimed that they killed Bangladeshi people over security concerns. Of the 588 border killings in the past 15 years, we have not found a single person carrying firearms,鈥� CR Abrar said.
From January 2009 to November 2024, the BSF allegedly killed 588 Bangladeshis and injured 773 Bangladeshis, according to rights body Odhikar.
Felani, a 15-year-old girl, was shot dead by the BSF in the Anantapur border area under Phulbari upazila in Kurigram on January 7, 2011, when she was returning home crossing barbed wire fences erected by India.
Her body was left hanging from the barbed wire fence for five hours, sparking outrage and protests at home and abroad.
Felani鈥檚 father Nur Islam Nuru alleged that the immediate past government had put pressure on them instead of ensuring justice for his daughter鈥檚 killing in the past 15 years of its rule.
鈥業 demand the government put an end to border killing. No children should hang in the barbed wire fence in the coming days as my daughter did,鈥� said Nur Islam.
Felani鈥檚 mother Jahanara Begum said that her daughter was hung from the barbed wire fence alive for three hours and none came to save her.
鈥業 demand justice for my daughter鈥檚 killing,鈥� said the mother.聽聽
Jatiya Gonofront chief coordinator A Tipu Biswas said that the interim government should remove the collaborators of Sheikh Hasina and India as well from the administration to ensure justice for the border killings.聽
Speakers also blamed the absence of national unity in dealing with the issues of border killings, trans boundary rivers water sharing and unfair bilateral treaties.
Referring to the killing of a Nepal national along Indian border in 2017, Jatiya Mukti Council general secretary Faizul Hakim Lala said that protests spread across Nepal over the killing that forced the Indian authorities to apologise.
鈥榃e have not seen such unity although several hundred Bangladesh nationals were killed by the BSF,鈥� he said.
Ganosamhati Andolan chief coordinator Zunayed Saki said that the bilateral relations between India and Bangladesh should be based on equality and fairness.
Gono Odhikar Parishad general secretary Rashed Khan, Student Movement Against Discrimination coordinator Tarikul Islam, and Jatiya Nagorik Committee convener Nasiruddin Patwary, among others, addressed the rally.
Meanwhile on the day, Drik opened a three-day solo photography exhibition titled 鈥楤order that bleeds鈥� by photographer Parvez Ahmad Rony, observing the death anniversary of Felani.
Organised at the Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed Park at Gulshan-2 in Dhaka city, the exhibition was inaugurated by housing and public works adviser Adilur Rahman Khan with managing director of Drik Picture Library Shahidul Alam and Felani鈥檚 parents, Jahanara Begum and Nur Islam, among others, being present.
The exhibition, which will end on January 9, features 24 black and white photographs of Rony who has been documenting border killings since 2012 at different points of Bangladesh-India border.
鈥業 hope the photo exhibition will create awareness about the equal bilateral diplomacy between Bangladesh and India. It also focuses on border management to uphold the age-old humanitarian relationship of the area,鈥� said Parvez Ahmad Rony.聽聽聽聽聽聽聽
Addressing a discussion organised by the Student Movement Against Discrimination held at the platform鈥檚 office in the capital on the day, Daily Amar Desh editor Mahmudur Rahman said that all of the killings did not take place for crossing the border, but many times BSF members shot Bangladesh nationals while they were in the Bangladesh territory.
Referring to the image of Felani鈥檚 body hanging from the border fence, Mahmudur Rahman said that the bullet pierced through her body hit the map of Bangladesh.
He further said that people sacrificed their lives in the student-led mass uprising for their country and religion.
Jagannath University students on the day also staged a protest rally on the campus, iterating the demand for justice for Felani鈥檚 killing and disclosure of all unfair treaties and agreements with India.