A total of 201 Bangladeshi expatriates have written to the world's three top leaders to put an end to the spate of killings by Border Security Forces (BSF) on the Bangladesh-India border.

The three leaders are United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres, European Union Parliament President Roberta Metsola and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.

The prominent citizens in the opened letter written under the banner of Network for Democratic Bangladesh (Europe) claimed that neighbouring India is engaged in killing Bangladeshi people on the border in a planned way.

Expressing grave concern over the preplanned border killing, they said the BSF has already crossed the limit of human rights violation while India is showing an utter disregard for the principle of national sovereignty.

Referring to the tragic death of 15-year-old Felani Khatun following the barbaric torture of the BSF, they said the incident sparked widespread criticism across the world against India but the killing spree on the border could not be stopped till today.

It is a matter of grave concern that another youth Jayanta Kumar Singh, aged 15 years, met the same fate in the BSF firing along Kantivita border in Thakurgaon's Baliadangi Upazila on 11 September, they said.

Besides, Swarna Das, a 13-year-old girl from Kalnigar village in Paschim Juri union under Juri upazila, was shot and killed in BSF firing on 3 September while Abdullah was killed by the BSF in the same way on 12 August.  

According to a report of the Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), one of the leading human rights and legal aid organisations in Bangladesh claimed that a total of 31 Bangladeshis were killed by BFS in 2023.

The BSF killed 18 Bangladeshis in 2021 and 23 people in 2022 and a total of 522 Bangladeshis were killed by the BSF from 2009 to 2020, ASK said.

The citizens said these are not separate incidents but acts of aggression and gross human rights violations.   

Such incidents undermine the dignity of the Bangladesh people and it appears as a threat to the peace and stability in the region, they said.  

“We call upon the international communities and world leaders to step forward with diplomatic efforts to hold those responsible for the atrocities accountable and put an end to these barbaric acts,” they said.

BDST: 1642 HRS, SEP 16, 2024
MSK