INDIAN Border Security Force (BSF) brutally pulled out all 10 fingernails of a Bangladeshi national after he was caught for illegal entry in Malda district, which borders Naogaon. BSF between 2000 and 2018 killed 1144 Bangladeshi nationals and injured 1078 others in the border. In these years, Dhaka cannot strongly register its protest for the torture and shooting-spree of BSF along the border. We don’t know what the reason is. On foreign policy, John Palmerston in 1848 said, “We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies; our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow”. We think it’s high time to set basic principles of our foreign policy.
BSF men caught Azim Uddin on April 25 inside India and tortured him brutally for three days. At one stage they pulled out all his fingernails and left him untreated. The behaviour of BSF is neither humane nor friendly. Azim, along with three others went to India without any travel documents for smuggling of cattle as they usually get Tk 8,000 from cattle traders for bringing each pair of cattle. When they were coming back to Bangladesh on the same night, BSF challenged them. Three of his companions managed to flee away, but he was caught.
Though Delhi had given assurances several times to bring down border deaths to zero, in reality the situation has improved a little over the years. For that reason, the killing of Bangladeshi nationals along the border with India has become a contentious bilateral issue. We know cattle smuggling, intrusion and cutting down of barbed-wire border fence are some of the key reasons behind the continuation of BSF’s arrogance.
Ideally, we must abhor the trans-border smuggling, while cattle smuggling between the bordering nations has some socio-economic causations. Even so, the brutality of BSF is condemnable. It is also highly surprising how the members of a disciplined force could show such cruelty to a civilian? Haven’t we any card in our hand to bargain with Indians on this issue?
