The India-based Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) has urged Indian Home Minister Amit Shah to take into cognizance a few issues afflicting those residing in Indo-Bangladesh border villages and take prompt action to resolve them, as the BJP leader visits West Bengal to take part in a program to mark the birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore.
“We heartily welcome him on this visit. As he is visiting the state, we would like to bring a few issues of the citizens residing in Indo-Bangladesh border villages to his notice,” the organization said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
“Despite the fact that India and Bangladesh are friendly countries, the Indo-Bangla border is one of the most vulnerable and violent in the world, registering severe bloodshed on a daily basis. On average, a person is killed every two days on the Indo-Bangla border by the BSF.
“In the case of each of these deaths, surprisingly a couple of things remain constant – the deceased is a criminal in a police case and the murderer under impunity.”
The BSF used pellet guns at the Indo-Bangla border in order to combat whatever it considers crimes, MASUM said. Several Indian and Bangladeshi citizens had become victims of these pellet guns – some injuries even resulting in death, it said, adding that many of these victims had lost their sight due to pellet injury.
MASUM continued: “We know that the villagers of the Indo-Bangladesh border are heavily dependent on agriculture for livelihood. But the precarious positioning of the border fencing, which at places are 500 metres to a few kilometres inland, is putting the economic and social lives of these people in harm's way.
“Huge swathes of land of these villagers are entrapped between the fencing and the actual border, and they are facing incessant harassment at the hands of BSF personnel just to access their legally owned lands, even access to their own houses. As we all know, there are no such restrictions at the border between India and Nepal or India and Bhutan. Then why is the ministry resorting to the practice of double standards in the case of another amicable nation, Bangladesh?”
In some areas, the BSF had banned beef and the sale of cows on the Muslim-dominated border, not allowing vendors to sell beef even if they had licences, MASUM added.
On the other side of the barbed wire, about 60,000 families continuously endured unimaginable torture like life in prison, it said.
“As a security force, the duty of the BSF is to keep the border safe. Instead, they are stooping to new levels of notoriety and putting the very rights of the citizens of these areas at risk. Why does the home minister maintain silence on this?
“... the person whose birthday the home minister is celebrating had always been an outspoken advocate of humanity. We hope Amit Shah will pledge for the betterment of the border populace on this occasion.”