Human rights in Bangladesh
Human rights are not being respected in the India-Bangladesh border. The situation, with many illegal killings, is worrying. According to Odhikar, which monitors human rights violations in Bangladesh and its border areas, at least 1200 unarmed Bangladeshis have been killed in Border Security Force (BSF) firing at the border since Jan 1, 2000.
The long, winding and partly porous border is criss-crossed by rivers. Smuggling of humans, goods, drugs and cattle is rampant across the border. Dusk-to-dawn border movement is banned by both sides and BSF says its men challenge and then fire in self-defence at people who move across border during night, but Dhaka is not convinced and has raised this issue in successive meetings at different levels.
Border guards of Bangladesh and India began talks in New Delhi on July 2010 hoping the "spirit of the two prime ministers" would percolate down to the men who guard the 4,300 km frontier on both sides. There was 'some progress' in establishing human rights in 2011, but on the whole, the human rights situation was worrying, Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) said on Sunday.
According to the legal and human rights organisation, 100 people were killed by law enforcers in 2011, 134 were lynched by mobs, 33 committed suicide due to sexual harassment and 23 were killed protesting against such harassments. Fifty-six people were killed in political violence and 39 by India's Border Security Force (BSF), it said and added that 30 people were abducted last year. 'Disappearances' or undercover killings emerged as a new crime trend in 2011, according to the organisation.
Sultana questioned government's sincerity over ending extrajudicial killings and torture: "The state could have responded to the questions by trying those who are conducting such incidents," she said. About law enforcers' role, she said, "The law enforcing agencies have so far maintained the trend to act as forces of powerful or influential people."
She also blamed weak foreign policy for killing of Bangladeshis by BSF. "The government failed to take any effective step that could deter India from the killings," she said.