BSF assures BGB of ending border killing<\/strong>
\nIndia\u2019s Border Security Force director general Raman Shrivastava on Friday reassured his Bangladesh counterpart of ending the killing of Bangladeshis in the frontiers.
\nRaman at a joint briefing at the Border Guard Bangladesh headquarters in Dhaka after the director general-level meeting between the BGB and the BSF said that the border killing was unfortunate and they regretted it. The meeting began on September 26.
\n\u2018We have no intention of killing… What you say killing is actually not killing but death… It has come down significantly,\u2019 he claimed.
\nHe also claimed that the border killing was gradually decreasing and the number was 55 in 2009 but in 2011 so far, the number came down to 7.
\nThe BSF arrested 685 Bangladeshis in 2009, 1638 in 2010 and 2,300 in 2011, he said.
\nThere were 333 instances of fence-cutting in 2008, 566 in 2009, 924 in 2010 and 637 in 2010, said the BSF chief.
\nRights activists, however, have doubted the BSF chief\u2019s commitment as he quoted \u2018wrong statistics\u2019 about the borders killings.
\nAccording to rights organisation Odhikar, 21 Bangladeshis were killed by the BSF and six more by Indian civilians in the frontiers between January 1 and August 31, 2011.
\nAccording to figures available with Odhikar, 998 Bangladeshis were killed, 996 injured, 226 arrested, 957 abducted and 14 raped by BSF personnel or Indian hooligans and 107 went missing after being attacked allegedly by them between January 1, 2000 and August 31, 2011.
\nOf the victims, 75 were killed and 335 injured by
\nthe Indian civilians while BSF personnel were responsible for other remaining incidents.
\nBetween January 6, 2009 and August 31, 2011, a total of 200 Bangladeshis were killed, 215 injured, 74 abducted and a woman was raped in the frontiers.
\nOf the victims, 7 were killed and 15 injured by the Indian civilians while others were made victim by the BSF, the Odhikar report says.
\nThe Border Guard Bangladesh director general, Anwar Hossain, also contested the figure of killing given by the Border Security Force.
\nHe told New Age that the actual figure was much more than seven, as claimed by the BSF chief.
\nThe killing and other human rights violations by the BSF in the borders still go unabated despite repeated pledges made by the Indian authorities.
\nPromising an end to border killings, Raman on March 12 said, \u2018Non-lethal weapons will be given to the border guards in sensitive areas of the India-Bangladesh frontiers.\u2019
\nHe made the remarks at a joint press briefing after a five-day meeting between the director generals in New Delhi.
\nOn Friday, Raman also said that the BSF had introduced non-lethal weapons in many places to stop border killings.
\n\u2018Following the announcement,\u2019 Odhikar secretary Adilur Rahman said, \u2018the BSF has now resorted to the medieval tactic of killing Bangladeshis, by stoning and stabbing, and hitting them with rifle butts or running speeding boats over them.\u2019
\nThe BSF has, however, killed 16 unarmed Bangladeshis till August 31 since Raman made the remarks.
\nAt Friday\u2019s briefing, BGB director general Anwar Hossain said that border killings were unacceptable and such killings hampered good neighbourly relations.
\n\u2018It has for long been a source of tension between the two countries but it has come down after the summit between the two prime ministers that was held in early September in Dhaka,\u2019 he said.
\nHe also said, \u2018India has assured us that they would take necessary steps to stop such killings.\u2019
\nThe BGB follows international norms and never open fire on Indian civilians who cross the borders, the BGB chief said. \u2018In case of illegal border crossing, we arrest the persons.\u2019
\nThe BSF has been asked to follow such international norms, he said.
\nAnwar said that there were some problems when the Tin Bigha Corridor was opened for 24 hours but \u2018things are now okay.\u2019
\nIndia announced unfettered access to Dahagram and Angarpota through the Tin Bigha Corridor during the visit of Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh\u00a0 to Bangladesh in September 6-7.
\nThere will be coordinated efforts to manage the long and porous border and a management plan has already been developed, the BGB chief said.
\n\u2018The BGB and the BSF have agreed to control drug and human trafficking and illegal movement along the border,\u2019 he said.
\nThe BSF chief said that joint border management would get a complete shape by October 31.
\nIndia has handed over a list of criminals and insurgents and forged currency traffickers to Bangladesh and urged action against them, he said appreciating Bangladesh for taking action in this regard.
\nHe said forged currency was not made in Bangladesh rather it was used as transit to reach India.
\nAnwar said that in 2010, the BSF had handed over some lists but subsequent operations did not yield much of a result. \u2018We will hunt the criminals.\u2019<\/p>\n

-With New Age<\/span> input<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BSF assures BGB of ending border killing India\u2019s Border Security Force director general Raman Shrivastava on Friday reassured his Bangladesh counterpart of ending the killing of Bangladeshis in the frontiers. Raman at a joint briefing at the Border Guard Bangladesh headquarters in Dhaka after the director general-level meeting between the BGB and the BSF said … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[209,6791,1060,482,5674,152,225,6790],"yoast_head":"\n