State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam on Wednesday said killings in a number of points along the long Bangladesh-India border came down to zero level in recent years though problems remain in some points like Lalmonirhat.
"We hope it will come down to zero level (in all points)," he said while speaking as the chief guest at a discussion, acknowledging that border killing remains an irritant to Bangladesh-India relations.
The state minister said there is no lack of willingness on both sides and Bangladesh raised the recent border issues with India through diplomatic channels on Tuesday.
“There is no doubt that this is an irritant to our bilateral ties,” said the state minister, adding that these incidents embarrassed them and undermine the growing relationship between the countries.
The government has conveyed the recent killing of three Bangladeshis by the BSF in separate incidents to the Indian government through diplomatic channels.
“We did never step back in raising issues in the interest of Bangladesh and its people,” said the state minister.
The state minister said they see a deviation when it comes to Lalmonirhat and they are trying to understand it. “We will always remain vocal on the issue (border killing).”
Even during the recent home minister-level meeting between the two countries in Delhi, both the ministers agreed to take all our efforts to bring down the border killing to zero level, and to stop the use of lethal weapons, he mentioned.
“This is also our question: if really there was a situation, which required shooting then why were legs or hands not targeted?” the state minister questioned.
He said there are many achievements brought about by the two countries.
Shahriar said there are disruptive forces driven by vested quarters but the two countries will work together to further deepen the relations.
He also talked about the role of the media in fighting the misinformation.
Earlier, leaders of Bangladesh emphasized the importance of effective border management for ensuring a peaceful, stable and crime-free border.
Both sides agreed that any death at the border is a matter of concern and directed the concerned border guarding forces to enhance people-oriented measures for ensuring border security and bring down such deaths of civilians to zero.