Delhi urged to end border killings

Home minister Salahuddin Ahmed on Sunday urged the Indian government   to take measures to end killings along the Bangladesh-India border.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with the Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma at his Bangladesh Secretariat office, Salahuddin said that he had raised concerns over killings along the border and emphasised the need to ensure that Bangladesh no longer hears of such deaths.

The home minister  called for regular meetings between the Border Guard Bangladesh and the Border Security Force of India at different levels, including director general-level conferences, to minimise tensions and prevent further incidents.

According to human rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra, at least 34 Bangladeshis were killed by India’s BSF, with 24 shot dead and 10 dead from physical torture in 2025.

According to the home minister, the Indian side expressed sincerity on the issue and assured that appropriate instructions would be issued to the relevant agencies.

The minister also said that the foundation of Bangladesh-India relations should rest on people-to-people contact rather than ties between  political parties of the two countries.

‘The basis of the bilateral relations will be communication between our peoples, not relations between one political party and another,’ Salahuddin said during the meeting.

He said that Bangladesh wanted to move relations forward, not backwards, learning from past experiences to renew ties.

A range of issues of mutual concern were discussed at the meeting, including security cooperation, maintaining law and order, preventing mob violence and attacks, reopening Indian visa centres and increasing the rate of visa issuance, tackling cybercrimes, exchanging training between the two countries’ police academies, sending more trainees under India’s ITEC programme, prisoner exchange, expansion of trade and strengthening overall bilateral ties.

On the issue of visas, the minister requested the reopening of Indian visa centres and an increase in visa issuance.

Verma said that with a political government now established in Bangladesh and the law and order situation improving, visa centres would be reopened gradually, subject to security assurances, and visa issuance would increase in phases.

News Courtesy:

New Age | Delhi urged to end border killings