BNP demands UN investigation into killing of BGB member at border

The BNP has called for a United Nations (UN) investigation into the death of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) soldier Mohammad Roisuddin — who was shot by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) on 22 January.

This demand was made public in a statement released by BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, following a meeting of the party's standing committee today (27 January).

The BNP statement said, "Among all the world's borders, the Bangladesh-India frontier is considered the most violent and bloodstained."

"Despite repeated assurances from India, the number of Bangladeshi citizens being killed at the border by the Indian Border Security Force is continually increasing. The media regularly reports on these fatalities," the statement reads.

"Over the past seven years, 201 Bangladeshi citizens have been killed by BSF gunfire," the BNP statement noted citing Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), a human rights organisation.

The shooting of Raisuddin, a 35-year-old member of the BGB-49 Battalion, occurred near the Jelepara post in the Dhanyokhola area of Jashore. 

The BSF returned his body on 24 January, two days after he died.

The BNP committee members condemned what they described as BSF's "deliberate killings", saying, "The deliberate killings by the BSF are now well-known to all. Delhi's aggression and Dhaka's silence are encouraging these uncontrolled acts of murder."

BNP accused Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of maintaining a submissive "political arrangement" with Delhi, leading to a lack of response to these killings.

They also expressed strong condemnation and outrage over these incidents, including the case of Felani, whose hanging body on the border fence had previously sparked widespread anger and sadness in Bangladesh. 

On 7 January 2011, the young Bangladeshi girl was brutally murdered along the Kurigram border by members of India's Border Security Force (BSF). Later, she was found hanging on the barbed wire of the Bangladesh-India border.

The party mourned the loss of lives and offered prayers for the deceased.