Indian border force guns down 2 Bangladeshi youths

DHAKA, Bangladesh

India’s Border Security Force (BSF) killed two Bangladeshi youths and took away their bodies in a fresh firing incident, despite a repeated commitment from the Indian side not to use lethal weapons along border areas.

“Yes, the incident happened on Sunday morning while the youths were returning from the Indian side, having cows with them. They were shot dead, and the Border Security Force of India did not hand over the bodies,” Omor Faruque, the officer in charge of Patgram Police Station, told Anadolu Agency.

The BSF fired at the two Bangladeshis along the Burimari frontier in Patgram subdistrict of Bangladesh’s northern border district of Lalmonirhat.

“The youths were coming from the Indian side [of the border] and were not carrying legal entry documents,” Faruque added.

The Border Guard of Bangladesh (BGB) is working hard to bring back their bodies, he added.

The BGB sent a letter to the BSF in protest against the killings and demanded that the bodies be handed over. It has yet to receive a formal response from the BSF, however.

- Killing of Bangladeshis unabated

The killings of Bangladeshis by the Indian border force have continued despite assurances from the Indian side of not using lethal weapons.

India shares its largest border area with Bangladesh. The two countries share a 4,096-kilometer (2,545-mile) international border, the fifth-longest land border in the world.

The Indian government has issued public orders to exercise restraint and end unlawful killings and made assurances to Bangladesh, including during talks in December 2020, according to Human Rights Watch.

Bangladeshi Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told parliament in July last year that the BSF had killed a total of 294 Bangladeshi nationals in the last 10 years.

However, the Bangladeshi human rights organization Odhikar alleged that the border forces have killed at least 334 Bangladeshis since 2011 and committed other instances of severe abuse, including 51 killings in 2020.