20 Bangladeshis killed by Indian BSF in 7 months: Report
New Delhi: At least 20 Bangladeshi nationals, including a member of the Border Guard Bangladesh, have been killed by the Indian Border Security Force since June 2023.
According to Kashmir Media Service, 18 Bangladeshis were killed with 17 others injured and two others drowned between July and December 2023, while two others were killed in January, according to a tally prepared by the Dhaka-based human rights group Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK).
On January 22, the Indian BSF shot dead BGB member Mohammad Roisudddin along the Benapole border in Jashore. Roisudddin was posted to the 49th Border Guard Battalion in the district.
The ASK documented that 30 Bangladeshis were killed at the hands of the Indian BSF alone in 2023, while the number was 23, including 16 shooting deaths in 2022. In 2021, the number of shooting deaths was 16, and another was reportedly tortured to death. The rights group recorded 42 shooting deaths in 2020.
At least 1,236 Bangladeshis were killed and 1,145 injured in the shooting by the Indian border force between 2000 and 2020, according to Odhikar, another Bangladesh-based human rights organization.
Calling the border killings, a blatant violation of international laws, former chairman of Bangladesh’s National Human Rights Commission Mizanur Rahman said that such killings of Bangladeshi people are affecting people-to-people relations in both countries.
