BSF atrocities
Zahid Hasan Banani, Dhaka
On 31 August it was reported that the Indian BSF had killed three unarmed Bangladesh civilians. Abu Taher and Delwar Hossain were day labourers who were shot and killed in Brahmanbaria as they were lifting sand from Shalda river. Afsaruddin was a farmer who was shot and killed while working on his cropland near the border at Ranisangkail in Thakurgaon. A human rights organisation (Odhikar) recently reported that the BSF has killed 328 Bangladeshis in the last five years. The foreign ministry should demand compensation from the Indian government for the family members of all the Bangladeshi civilians who have been killed by the BSF. The Indians must accept that Bangladeshis are human beings, and they must respect our human rights. An armed soldier has no right to shoot an unarmed farmer or labourer. If the BSF finds any Bangladeshi civilian on the Indian side of the border they have the right to capture him and return him to the Bangladesh side, but they have no right to kill him. They have no right to cross the border into our territory, and they certainly have no right to capture or kill anyone on our territory. In the fiscal year 2004-05 Bangladesh imported Indian goods worth 12,000 crore taka. Indian companies are making a lot of money by selling their goods in Bangladesh. Thousands of Indian workers are employed to manufacture these goods. We should use this as a bargaining chip. The BSF must stop shooting Bangladeshi civilians and the Indian government must pay compensation for each of the 328 people who have been killed. If they refuse to comply with these demands within one month, we should stop all import of goods from India.
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