Border killings still happening: Momen

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen yesterday said it is unfortunate that border killing continues despite India’s commitment to zero deaths at the border.

“Unfortunately, it is still happening. Like you, we are also concerned. We would relay the message to India so that they comply with what they have committed -- ‘zero death at the border’,” Momen told a press conference at the foreign ministry.

India’s Border Security Force (BSF) allegedly killed two Bangladeshis along the border in Thakurgaon and in Lalmonirhat last week. Earlier last week, two other Bangladeshis were allegedly killed by the BSF in Chapainawabganj.  

Momen said Bangladesh and India agreed to the point that there would be zero death along Bangladesh-India border. A few days ago, Border Guard Bangladesh and BSF officials discussed the matter and renewed the commitment.

Asked if India-Bangladesh relations are strained, especially as three ministers cancelled their visits in last one month, the minister said, “You say the relationship is cold, but it is actually warm.”

“Diplomacy is on a high. It is very good. But media discovers some issues that are actually non-issues,” he said.

The Observer Research Foundation in collaboration with the India’s Ministry of External Affairs is organising the Raisina Dialogue, a global meeting in Delhi beginning on January 14.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam was supposed to attend the event as a speaker, but he cancelled as he is accompanying PM Sheikh Hasina to her UAE visit from January 12-14, a foreign ministry statement said.

Early last month, Abul Momen and Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan cancelled their visits to Delhi amid protests against India’s Citizenship (Amendment) Act that grants citizenship to people of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian faiths who faced “persecution” in Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Critics say it discriminates against Muslims and violates secular tenets of the Indian constitution. The law sparked furious protests as lakhs of people took to the streets across India.

The demonstrations led to many deaths, including more than 20 in Uttar Pradesh alone.

Asked whether media reports claiming Dhaka was not issuing visas to Kashmiri students wishing to study in Bangladesh, the foreign minister said it was not true.