Dhaka: Bangladesh on Sunday accused Indian border
guards of "unprovoked shooting" that left a 12-year-old girl
dead at a frontier village two days back and lodged a strong
protest asking New Delhi to rein in its forces.
The foreign office handed over a protest note to the
Indian High Commission in Dhaka saying "such shooting
incidents are in clear violation of the Bangladesh-India
Border Guidelines of 1975".
"Bangladesh strongly protested and expressed deep concern
at the unprovoked shooting and killing of a minor Bangladeshi
child by Border Security Force of India," said a foreign
office statement hours after the protest was registered.
A 12-year-old girl was killed allegedly in firing by BSF
on Friday evening and her body was found about 25 yards inside
Bangladesh territory at Roumari borders.
"Bangladesh has also conveyed concern at the trend of
indiscriminate shooting and killing by BSF, which creates
unnecessary tensions between the two border security forces...
such acts go against the spirit of good neighbourliness and
the close friendly relations that exist between Bangladesh and
India," the statement said.
According to the statement, Dhaka demanded a "proper
investigation" by concerned Indian authorities and necessary
legal action against those responsible.
"Bangladesh has also called for a strong policy directive
to the BSF to put an end to such shootings," it read.
The cross-border killings largely dominated the director
general level border talks in July this year in Dhaka between
the BSF and their Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) counterparts.
In July, BSF chief M L Kumawat had said efforts were
being made to contain such incidents, but added that the most
of the cross-border killings usually take place at the "dark
of night".
He acknowledged that 15 percent of such casualties took
place during daytime but maintained such cases were
extensively investigated both by Indian police and BSF.
Bureau Report
