No talks on stopping use of lethal weapons on the border is disappointing

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on SaturdayPID

Indian human rights organisation Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) has termed no discussion being held between prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to stop the use of lethal weapon at the Bangladesh-India borders, as disappointing. The organisation said this in a statement on Friday.

The Kolkata-based human rights organisation stated, during the regime of Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government (2004-14), on an average 150 people died at the border annually.

After the National Democratic Alliance led by BJP came to power in 2014, this number increased up to 200.

The organisation said it in the statement, the reasons behind border killing at Bangladesh-India border going up is that Border Security Force (BSF) used non-lethal weapons that are not deadly, during the congress government’s regime. Following 2014, BSF resumed using lethal weapons.

While speaking to Prothom Alo MASUM secretary Kiriti Roy said, “We had hoped that there will be effective decision on this issue. Within several hours of the joint statement by both prime ministers, there has been an incident of a teenager being shot to death and his body being disappeared in Dinajpur. This is a matter of concern and sorrow for people on either sides of the border.”

The organisation said, “Although both prime ministers have expressed their satisfaction over border killings going down, our statistics imply there has been a sudden escalation in border killing."

MASUM’s statement also claimed that illegal activities like human trafficking, cattle and drug smuggling aren’t possible without the help of border security forces from both countries.