Dhaka: Bangladesh on Saturday expressed
"disappointment" over an alleged recent remark by the chief of
Indian BSF that it would not be possible to totally stop
firing by security forces as long the criminal activities
continued to take place along the Indo-Bangla border.
The foreign ministry in a statement said the remarks of
the BSF chief were "markedly at variance" with the Indian
assurances made several occasions earlier at different
official levels.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs notes with
disappointment that the remarks of the DG, BSF are markedly at
variance with the assurances given to Bangladesh at various
levels, including at the highest level, on several occasions,"
read the statement.
BSF Director General U K Bansal in an interview to BBC
Bengali Service on February 8 reportedly said it would not be
possible to totally stop firing so long the criminal
activities continued to take place at the India-Bangladesh
border.
The cross-border firing between Indian and Bangladeshi
forces has been a key part of the agenda during talks between
the heads of the two countries' border guards amid pledges to
scale back confrontations.
Paramilitary forces from the two countries often exchange
gunfire along their troubled 4,000-kilometre border, much of
which has been fenced by India.
In the past, India has dismissed such allegations, saying
most of those caught in the cross-border firing in the
"dark of night" are terrorists, smugglers and criminals who
are seeking to move across the international frontier.
India has asked Bangladesh to "sensitise" its people to
follow legal routes for crossing their porous frontier which
has been used for drug smuggling and extremist and terrorist
activities.
Bangladesh National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)
chairman Dr Mizanur Rahman on Wednesday said alleged "killing"
of Bangladeshi nationals along the border would be taken to
the United Nations.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, February 12, 2012, 00:44