Yet another death of a Bangladeshi at the hands of India鈥檚 Border Security Force shows a continued disregard of Indian guards for laws and border protocols. It also shows the nullity of the pledges that Indian authorities, including the Border Security Force, have made to end border killing and to never use lethal weapons in border management. On April 16, the Bangladeshi reportedly died in a hospital in Cooch Behar, West Bengal. According to local accounts, the Bangladeshi, an inhabitant of Hatibandha in Lalmonirhat, was cutting grass inside the Bangladesh territory near the border when an Indian patrol team crossed into Bangladesh, detained Hasibul and took him across the border. The team shot Hasibul in the eyes and later admitted him to a hospital where he died in the evening. This is not the first time that the Indian guards killed or detained Bangladeshis, especially farmers, from inside Bangladesh. Indian guards are reported to have detained Bangladeshi farmers working in fields well inside Bangladesh and tortured and killed them in many earlier incidents.
What is also gravely problematic is the claim of Indian authorities that their border guards kill 鈥榗riminals鈥� and 鈥榮mugglers鈥� on the border that Indian guards blanketly term whoever they detain, torture or kill. Cross-border smuggling happens on the Bangladesh-India border and such smuggling involves people from both the sides and there are agreements and international laws to be followed in dealing with smugglers and no laws allow any forces to pursue a shoot-to-kill policy, dishonouring agreements and memorandums signed between Bangladesh and India. This shoot-to-kill policy has made the Bangladesh-India border the deadliest. At least 30 Bangladeshis were killed in BSF firing in 2024 alone while the Indian guards killed more than 1,300 Bangladeshis in 2000鈥�2023, as rights group Odhikar says. While border killing by Indian guards has remained a prickly, the recent attempts of Indian guards to erect fences at a number of places near the zero line in violation of bilateral agreements reflect the unneighbourly attitude of India. Both the issues appear to strain bilateral relations, which have already suffered a significant blow from India鈥檚 unabashed support for the authoritarian regime of the Awami League and the sheltering of the former prime minister, deposed in an uprising on August 5, 2024.
The disregard for international border protocol by the Indian guards is a major obstacle to fostering good relations between Bangladesh and India. While both the countries, especially the border forces, should work together to ease border tension, the Indian authorities need to deliver on their pledges and honour the bilateral agreements and laws in border management.
