The visiting Director General of India's Border Security Force Pankaj Kumar Singh on July 21 -- while addressing a joint press conference in Dhaka after a meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart in Pilkhana -- termed Bangladeshi nationals killed at the border “criminals.”
According to him, those killed were involved in various criminal activities including the drug trade and cattle smuggling, and every shooting incident happened at night and allegedly with BSF personnel coming under attack. Logic dictates that if it is smuggling, then there must be Indian counterparts involved, right? Well, where were they? I don’t believe the BSF has ever shared with us how many Indian smugglers have been apprehended in such incidents.
Phensidyl is a common drug which comes through the Indian border. There must be factories producing this item in close vicinity to the border on Indian soil. We haven’t any such information where BSF has ever identified or destroyed such facilities. Anandabazar, a popular Indian daily, recently published an episode on this showing various innovative ways Indian citizens are using to smuggle out phensidyl, such as concealing them inside LPG cylinders, for example.
Killings at the border are going on despite BSF top officials’ “commitment” made to bring down the number of deaths to zero. Is this just an attempt to bypass their own crimes by grossly terming those killed on the border as “criminals”? Illegal border crossing is definitely an offence. In that case the offenders can be detained or arrested, they are definitely not supposed to be murdered outright.
Pankaj Kumar Singh, while talking to media, said that incidents such as smuggling, human trafficking, and illegal entry are happening because of “bad people on both sides of the border.” If you are mandated to kill criminals or “bad people” and if there are bad people on both sides of the border, why is the killing one-sided only?
It is encouraging for us when the DG of the BSF says that they are considering the use of non-lethal weapons to prevent fatalities while scores of BSF personnel were seriously injured in attacks by criminals on the border. But what is preventing them from using them rightaway? In such an event we Bangladeshis can get at least some relief when BSF will hand us over our “criminals” wounded and apprehended instead of handing over dead bodies.
Thousands of innocent Bangladeshis have lost their lives in the hands of BSF at the borders, there have been many cases of arbitrary detention and torture as well. Several survivors and eyewitnesses of BSF attacks allege that the BSF resorted to indiscriminate shooting without issuing any warnings whatsoever. In spite of repeated assurance of zero death cases in the border for a while now, the BSF have shown their trigger happy-nature in killing Bangladeshis at the border.
But this time the BSF DG’s remarks are nothing short of unacceptable and shocking by any standards. There can be many motives in crossing the border, but unless someone has been caught in some illicit activity, how can you really label him as a criminal?
Thanks to the Indian authority’s decision in banning cow export, Bangladesh has achieved self reliance in terms of meat, hence the requirement of importing or smuggling in cows from across the border has been reduced by a great extent. How can the BSF still cite cattle smuggling as a recurring issue when it has, unlike the death count, reduced to zero?
The border fencing, non-lethal weapons, assurance of zero border killing are all said and done -- why are people still being killed at the borders then? Why do similar killings not happen along borders with other countries India maintains?
I would say the attitude towards citizens of a particular country does not bode well. If the national leadership would treat people with dignity, the similarity will be reflected at all levels. We Bangladeshis are also responsible for this, of course. We have failed to create employment opportunities for people living along remote areas of the border, which is why they are forced into a life of crime in these parts. We also have failed to create sufficient awareness regarding the risk of getting killed at the border.
Sometime in June 2006 at the New Delhi airport I was approaching the immigration desk and they were all crowded. There was one desk with signage for official passports with no one lined up in front. Since I had my official passport I happily approached that desk and stood in front. The edge of my green passport jutting out from my pocket didn’t escape the keen eyes of the smart Indian official manning the desk who shouted at me: “I don’t know what’s wrong with you Bangladeshis, don’t understand a simple thing. Why on God’s earth are you in this queue?”
He waved me to the long queue in front of another desk. I went close to him and showed him the word “official” inscribed on my passport. I drew his attention to the signage above the desk and told him, “Look Sir! It’s written “official” right there. You have been rather unkind in shouting at me.”
He got my point and got busy endorsing my passport.
Brig Gen Qazi Abidus Samad, ndc, psc (Retd) is a freelance contributor. Email: showkat1959@gmail.com.