Odhikar, FORUM-ASIA member in Bangladesh, called on the government to address the killing by Indian Border
Security Force during the three-day meeting with them. The organisation issued the statement below on 12 July 2009, the first day of the meeting. It reports that 789 people, most of them farmers, were killed by the force.
Odhikar, FORUM-ASIA member in Bangladesh, called on the government to address the killing by Indian Border
Security Force during the three-day meeting with them. The organisation issued the statement below on 12 July 2009, the first day of the meeting. It reports that 789 people, most of them farmers, were killed by the force.
Three day top-level talks between Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and Indian Border Security Forces (BSF) are scheduled to begin in Dhaka from 12 July 2009, which will be held at Bangladesh Rifles Headquarters. Odhikar would like to draw the
attention of the Directorate General of BDR Major General Md Mainul Islam and the Indian delegation team led by the Directorate General of BSF, Mahendra Lal Kumawat, to the allegations of indiscriminate killing, injury and abduction of
Bangladeshi citizens by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF).
Odhikar routinely monitors reported incidents of killing, injury and other human rights violations perpetrated by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) on Bangladeshi citizens. According to Odhikar’s statistics, between 1 January 2000 and 10 July 2009 a total of 789 people were reported killed, 846 injured and 895 abducted by the BSF. BSF carried out 59 such killings this year till 10 July 2009. Odhikar feels that the extrajudicial killings perpetrated by the Indian Border Security Force on Bangladeshi nationals cannot be justified in any pretext, and that international laws have been totally ignored. Furthermore, many of the civilians who were killed were reportedly poor farmers who were working in their fields.
The deliberate killing of civilians constitutes a crime under international law and Odhikar calls upon the Government of Bangladesh to actively take up the issue with the Government of India and put in place appropriate measures to
provide security to civilians residing in border areas in Bangladesh. It also calls on the Government to adequately compensate victims of BSF violence and atrocities and/or their families and demand not only a thorough investigation and exemplary punishment of the perpetrators, but also proper compensation and reparation from the Indian Government in this regard.
