No border guard force has right shoot and kill: Dhaka

Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain on Wednesday said no border guard force has the right to shoot and kill someone who violates the law along the border, stressing that those who do this should be tried under Indian law.

“We are clearly saying that the border guard force does not have the right to shoot and kill someone who violates the law at the border. It is illegal. We have been protesting about this regularly. We keep continuing our protest,” he said while talking to reporters at the Foreign Service Academy.

A journalist wanted to know whether the interim government, although initially strict in its stance on protesting the border killings, has become a little softer now. In response, Adviser Hossain said, “Not at all.”

Regarding push-ins from India to Bangladesh, the Adviser said these are still happening but it is against the existing arrangements between the two countries.

The Foreign Affairs Adviser said that there is a prescribed process between the two countries to identify and take back citizens through exchange of lists, but if push-ins are carried out without following it, it is a clear violation of the rules.

He said they have recently taken back several citizens through the existing arrangement. “We insist that they maintain this procedure. This is our expectation.”