Anti-discrimination Students’ Movement protests BSF killing of two youths

BSF at Bangladesh-India border

Dhaka, 3 December -- The ‘Anti-discrimination Students’ Movement’, the student organization that led the July Uprising last year, staged a demonstration protesting the killing of two young men by India’s Border Security Force (BSF) allegedly at Shibganj border in Chapai Nawabganj.

The protest was held on Wednesday at around 4:30 pm in front of the Raju Sculpture on the Dhaka University campus.

Speakers at the rally urged the government to take strong measures against killings along the border. They also called for the adoption of a preventive policy between the two countries to stop border-related killings.

Sinthiya Zaheen Ayesha, spokesperson of ‘Anti-discrimination Students’ Movement’, said, “The lives of Bangladeshi citizens are not cheap. We demand a preventive policy between the two countries. We want an impartial international investigation into this killing.”

She added, “We reject the interim government’s submissive foreign policy. We will not tolerate anyone’s dominance.”

Meanwhile, the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) has urged the government to take urgent steps to file a case with the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing India of violating international law through repeated killings of Bangladeshi citizens along the border.

Condemning the killing of two youths by BSF at the Shibganj border, DUCSU stated that due to the failure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the government’s weak diplomatic stance, border killings have become a regular occurrence.

In a statement issued Wednesday, DUCSU said that border killings not only violate human rights but also a serious breach of international human rights conventions and border laws. It emphasized that Bangladesh must now intensify diplomatic and legal efforts on global platforms, including the International Criminal Court, to ensure justice for such incidents.

The statement added, “Since independence, BSF has repeatedly violated international law through continuous killings of Bangladeshi citizens. Although the brutal killings of Felani or Swarna Das shook the entire world, it brought no change in the behavior of the Indian border guards.”

It further said that the submissive diplomacy and repeated failures of the Bangladesh government have emboldened the BSF even more. Although India has repeatedly promised to bring border killings down to zero, the reality reflects the opposite.

The statement concluded that, in addition to bilateral discussions, taking the issue to the International Criminal Court and other global forums is the only effective alternative to stopping the ongoing killings. - UNB