Dhaka seeks talks to end firing by Indian forces
By IANSThursday, May 6, 2010
DHAKA - Dhaka wants talks with New Delhi over what it says are unprovoked firing by Indian border guards on Bangladeshi citizens.
After Home Minister Sahara Khatun met Indian High Commissioner Rajeet Mitter here Wednesday, she said the envoy had promised that the firing would “stop fully”, The Daily Star reported.
“He (Mitter) reassured us that the killings would come to an end,” Sahara told reporters.
Claiming that over 80 people had been killed by India’s Border Security Force (BSF), Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took up the subject with her Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh in New Delhi in January.
BSF says its men fire in self-defence when people move in the border area at night in violation of a bilateral pact.
The 4,300-km long India-Bangladesh border witnesses large-scale night-time smuggling of goods, drugs, arms, cattle and humans.
