‘Govt working with India to stop border killing’

Staff Reporter :
The government has reiterated that they are working with India to end the border killings which have been taking place by the Border Security Force (BSF) of India on the borders of the two countries.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal says that the Indian government also does not support border killing and has requested the Bangladesh government to take care of the issue of free movement in the border areas.
“Both the governments have been holding talks to stop border killings. India also does not support such killings,” he said while addressing at the inauguration ceremony of Upazila Ansar and VDP office in Bagha of Rajshahi on Wednesday.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam, Member of Parliament for Reserved Seats Adiba Anzum Mita and Director General of Bangladesh Ansar and VDP Major General AKM Nazmul Hasan were also present on the occasion.
The Home Minister also said that whenever any problems occurred on the border, flag meetings were held.
“If there is any problem on the border, an immediate flag meeting is being held. The home ministries of the both countries are also working to resolve various problems and crises on border management,” he said.
Regarding the relations between Bangladesh and India, he said, “The current government has taken the amicable relations between the two countries to a new height. During the Liberation War, the contribution of India is undeniable.”
The border killing issue has been coming to the fore whenever the ministers of the government are visiting the bordering districts
where the journalists ask about the progress of ending the issue. On 17 December, the State Minister for Foreign Affairs had been attending a function in Lalmonirhat district where the journalists asked him about progress towards the ending of the border killing crisis.
Then the State Minister Shahriar Alam said, “Border killing is not at all desirable. There lies a very good relation between the two prime ministers of Bangladesh and India. India also doesn’t want any killing on borders. The number of border killings has come down compared with the previous years. The border killing will be cut down to zero through good relations.”
To cut the border killings to zero, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during the latter’s visit to India in September to reduce such incidents of killings by Border Security Force (BSF) to zero.
According to the statistics of the BGB headquarters, 161 Bangladeshis were killed by BSF between January 2015 and June 2022.
The data of Ain o Salish Kendra showed that at least 23 people were killed along the India-Bangladesh border between January 2021 and June 2022.
Meanwhile, Home Minister at the function in Rajshahi also talked about the recent political unrest saying that action would be taken if anyone tries to create anarchy in the country in the name of politics.
“If the political parties do not abide by the rules, they will be held responsible,” he added.
He further said, “The country’s law and order situation is good. The law enforcers are working with patriotism and bravery. Whoever will try to create anarchy, legal action will be taken and is being taken. Whoever wants to do politics should follow the ideals of politics.”
Apart from this, the journalists after the inauguration of a mural of Bangabandhu at C&B Intersection of Rajshahi city asked the Home Minister about the security issue of US Ambassador Peter Haas.
“We do arrange security measures for Ambassadors. Special Ambassadors get additional surveillance. So I don’t think that security for the US Ambassador has lapsed. Nothing happened there (Shahinbag in the capital) that the security has been breached. There may have some misunderstanding. So the envoy said it,” he added.
“The place where the incident took place is under my parliament seat. We did not know that he (Haas) went to a residence there. The Ambassador said that the matter has been leaked. But we did not know. Police took immediate steps for his security,” he added.
The recent incident of ‘obstruction’ of Peter Haas in the city’s Shahinbag area during his visit to the residence of BNP leader Sajedul Islam, who has been missing for around a decade, drew criticism and US concerns.