BDR-BSF talks begin in Dhaka today

BSF kills 789 Bangladeshis in 9 years
A three-day top-level meeting between the officials of the border guards of Bangladesh and India begins in the capital today against the backdrop of a sudden increase in the incidents of killing of Bangladeshi villagers in the border areas by the Indian Border Security Force.
The director general-level talks between the Bangladesh Rifles and the Border Security Force of India begins at the BDR headquarters in Dhaka this morning for discussion on the ways to strengthen joint efforts to curb cross-border crimes and maintain peace on the frontiers.
Major general Mainul Islam, director general of the BDR, will lead a 24-member host side while ML Kumawat, his Indian counterpart, will lead his country’s 18-member delegation in the talks, said an official announcement.
At least 800 unarmed Bangladeshis have been killed in BSF firing on the borders between January 1, 2000 and July 10, 2009.
Meanwhile human rights watchdog Odhikar in a statement urged the government to take up the issue seriously at the three-day meeting and demanded that BSF immediately stop killing Bangladeshi nationals.
Police in the southern district of Satkhira on Saturday found the bodies of two young men, shot dead by the BSF on the border river Ichhamati.
Quoting SI Ganga, duty officer of sadar thana of Satkhira, United News of Bangladesh reported Saturday that the floating bodies of Omar Gazi, 34, of Garerkanda and Abdur Rahman, 22, of Itagacha village were retrieved at about midday from the river near Haraddaha.
The bodies had bullet wounds. It is suspected that BSF shot
them dead on the border river.
With the latest killings, at least 62 Bangladeshi nationals dwelling along the porous Indo-Bangladesh borders were slain this year by the BSF till July 11.
Families of the victims said Omar and Rahman had gone missing seven days ago.
Odhikar, referring to its own statistics, said that between January 1, 2000 and July 10, 2009, a total of 789 people were reported killed, 846 injured and 895 abducted by the BSF.
It said that the deliberate killing of civilians constitutes a crime under international law and urged the Bangladesh government to actively take up the issue with the Indian government and put in place appropriate measures to provide security to civilians residing in border areas in Bangladesh.
Odhikar also calls on the government to adequately compensate the victims of BSF atrocities and demand proper compensation and reparation from the Indian government in this regard.

Courtesy of NewAgebd