Staff Reporter:
The zero death pledge on the Bangladesh-India border seems hollow as the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) shot and killed a Bangladesh citizen on the Bhitargarh border in Panchagarh Sadar Upazila in the early hours of Saturday.
The deceased was identified as Al Amin, 36, son of Suruj Ali of Jinnatpara village under Harivasan union of the upazila, according to an official of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).
Alamin, along with 15 to 20 others associated with a smuggling gang, attempted to smuggle cows into Bangladesh from India on Friday night.
Noticing the incident, the BSF started opened fire indiscriminately at the cow smugglers and suddenly Alamin was caught in the line of the fire and met his end of life, said the BGB official.
Lieutenant Colonel Sheikh Mohammad Badruddoja, commander of the 56th BGB Battalion in Nilphamari, held a meeting with a commander of the 46th BSF and raised a strong protest against the killing.
A four-day 55th border conference of the directors general (DGs)-level of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Indian Border Security Force (BSF) began in New Delhi, India on 16 February.
During the meeting, Bangladesh and India agreed to take effective measures to bring down border killings to zero level and conduct joint inspections in case of carrying out any construction within 150 yards of the frontiers.
