Staff Reporter :
Indian Border Security Force (BSF) Director General Rajni Kant Mishra on Saturday terming the border killings as “unfortunate deaths” said that such incidents increased this year.
“What you say ‘killings’, I call it unfortunate deaths of individuals…I agree this year the unfortunate death rate was slightly higher,” he said replying to a query after a four-day long DG-level Border Conference at Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Headquarters in the city.
A 19-member host team led by BGB DG Major General Md Shafeenul Islam participated in the conference attended by a 10-member Indian delegation led by the BSF DG. Seven people were killed last year of which six were Indians and one was Bangladeshi, the BSF DG claimed. But his figure contradicts with the statistics of Bangladeshi rights body Ain o Salish Kendra which said at least 15 Bangladeshi people were killed on the borders last year. In the last five months alone, the number had been estimated at 15.
The BSF DG said, they use non-lethal weapon on the borders and use firearms in the rarest situations to protect themselves, not to target anyone.
“We have trained our forces to maintain maximum restraint. But sometimes the situation turns so ugly that our men are attacked with stones, sticks and sharp weapons,” the BSF DG said.
Besides, on the border killing issue, the BGB DG Shafeenul said “We have of course raised our concern of the increased number of deaths on the borders for years.”
He said that the number of deaths this year is eight and both forces have come to an agreement to restrain from killing.
Replying to a query on the source of Yaba smuggling into Bangladesh through India, the BSF DG said, none of the two countries are the source of the contraband items, adding “We are working to check illegal pumping of Yaba tablets through India,” he said.
In the conference, both sides agreed to undertake joint efforts to bring down the border killing incident to zero, to take steps for prevention of human trafficking and illegal crossing, prevention of illegal arms ammunition and explosives drug and gold by increasing coordinated patrols in the vulnerable bordering areas, according to a joint statement.
