BSF killing at the border

Indian Law Minister Salman Khurshid regretted the killing of Bangladeshis by the Indian border security forces (BSF). The Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram during his visit to Dhaka in July last year had expressed his regret too and assured that the BSF 'under no circumstances' would shoot at any Bangladeshi crossing the border. Pranab Mukherjee during his recent visit expressed similar sentiments. While all these regrets and assurances are welcome, it is with deep anguish we note that realities on the ground are far from satisfactory.
We think the Indian side has failed to gauge the negative impact that every single incident of killing or torture by BSF personnel has on people-to-people relations of the two countries. After the grisly picture of Felany's corpse hanging from barbed wires and the video footage of a Bangladeshi youth's brutal torture by BSF men were released, we thought that untoward incidents at the border would come to an end. But alas!
Even when an illegal trader is killed, it leaves a scar on the minds of people since there are legal ways to deal with them. These are issues which relate not only to fundamental human rights but also to trust and goodwill between two neighbouring countries. We fail to understand why such a sensitive issue eroding goodwill defies a solution despite repeated assurances from the Indian government.
One may argue that there is a gulf between the professed intentions of the Indian government and the attitude of the BSF which serves only to undermine the spurt in relations achieved by the two countries bilaterally. But border security being a central government affair, BSF should be amenable to the union government.