Indo-Bangla talks end, Delhi pledges to stop border killing
India has initiated a ‘court of inquiry’ into the recent killing of a Bangladeshi minor girl in the border by its Border Security Force, according to Indian home affairs secretary.
It also iterated its assurance, at the 11th India-Bangladesh home secretary-level talks that concluded in Dhaka on Thursday, for showing zero tolerance to the killing of any unarmed civilians in the frontiers.
‘We have already instituted a court of inquiry to investigate the death of a Bangladeshi minor girl… The guilty will be punished,’ India’s home secretary GK Pillai said at a joint news briefing after the two-day meeting at the Sheraton Hotel.
He, however, assured that endeavours were under way to take steps so that no more death takes place in the borders.
The Indian border guards on January 7 shot dead Felani, 15, after she had got entangled in a barbed-wire fence in the Kurigram border.
She was returning with her father Nurul Islam Nuru, a resident of south Ramkhana at Nageswari in Kurigram. They were coming back from Delhi, where they worked, after her marriage with a boy in Bangladesh was arranged.
Killing in the border by the Indian guards continued despite repeated assurance from the Indian side of preventing such incidents. In January 2011, four Bangladeshi civilians were reportedly killed by the BSF.
Over the years, the BSF has killed one Bangladeshi every four days, according to human rights organisation Odhikar. It has reported that 74 Bangladeshis were killed, 72 injured and 43 abducted in 2010.
The Indian home secretary, who led the 13-member delegation to the meeting, however, brushed aside the death figure and said the number of deaths of Bangladeshi citizens in the border had come down significantly.
‘The number of such deaths on the border reduced to 31 in 2010 while 61 BSF members were injured during the time… I still stand committed to zero death of unarmed civilians on the border,’ he added.
Pillai deeply regretted the death of Felani on behalf of India.
The Bangladesh home secretary, Abdus Sobhan Sikder, said both the sides had agreed to resolve border-related issues such as territory in adverse possessions, transfer of enclaves and demarcation of 6.5 kilometres of the unsettled border in two months before the Indian prime minister and its home minister would come to Dhaka on separate visits in a couple of months.
Sobhan, who led the 19-member Bangladeshi team to the talks, said Delhi had assured cooperation in capturing two fugitive killers of Sheikh Mujib — risaldar Mosleuddin and captain Abdul Mazed reportedly absconding in India.
Indian authorities asked for fingerprint and photographs of the convicted killers as they could not still trace them, according to officials.
Sobhan said that India had agreed to allow 24-hour access of Bangladeshi citizens to Dahagram and Angarpota through the Tin Bigha Corridor.
Delhi on the first of the two-day home secretary level meeting on Wednesday assured Dhaka of taking legal action against any killing of unarmed civilians in the frontier by the BSF as Dhaka pressed for effective measures to halt casualties from BSF shooting.
India focused on how to stop forging currencies along the border by some quarters while Bangladesh pressed for halting border killing at any cost.
The issues related to security, border management and enhancement of cooperation of law enforcement agencies, smuggling of arms and narcotic drugs, fake Indian currency notes, activities of extremists and terrorists, insurgency, trafficking in women and children, repatriation of prisoners, border fencing, immigration, among others, were elaborately discussed during the meeting.
Head count in the enclaves would begin soon to resolve the long-standing problems of the enclave people, he said.
Thirteen teams have already begun a joint land survey to resolve the territory in adverse possession. There were 111 Bangladeshi enclaves in the territory of India while 55 Indian enclaves were located inside Bangladesh, said officials.
Bangladesh earlier proposed that Indian guards should use non-lethal weapons to ensure that no unarmed civilians in the borders could be killed but Indian authorities have yet to make any official response to the matter.
Asked whether there was any progress in Bangladesh’s proposal, Pillai said the border guards also require arms for their self-defence as miscreants use firearms and sharp weapons along the border.
Both the sides agreed to strengthen border coordination efforts to address cross-border illegal activities.
The Indian side agreed to reopen the immigration points at Chilahati in Bangladesh and Haldibari in India. They also agreed to open an immigration point at Banglabandha (Bangladesh)–Phulbari (India).
