India’s Border Security Force (BSF) Director General Nitin Agarwal has said they are putting their best efforts to bring down the border killing to zero.
“We do not want any casualty along the border and that is why we are continuing joint border patrolling and intelligence sharing,” he said while speaking at the joint press conference on the concluding day of BGB-BSF 54th DG-level Border Conference at the BGB headquarters in Dhaka on Saturday.

In response to a question from a journalist over the recent death of BGB member Mohammad Roisuddin in the hands of BSF personnel, Nitin Agarwal said it was not a targeted killing, adding that he had officially reported the matter to the BGB chief.

Echoing the BSF chief, BGB DG Major General Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui said first of all the death of Roisuddin was not intentional; it happened in the darkness amid dense fog.

The BGB chief also said maximum efforts would be made to ensure zero causalities along the border in the future.
On 23 January this year, BGB Sipahi Roisuddin was shot dead by the BSF on the Benapole border in Jashore.

In response to a question from a journalist, BSF chief Nitin Agarwal said smugglers often carry out attacks on their soldiers with locally made weapons, adding that in the last one year, about 60 BSF men were injured by smugglers.

Generally, the smugglers attack the BSF men with choppers from close range, prompting the Indian troops to hit back with firearms, he added.
The BSF DG also stated that they do not use deadly weapons against the smugglers, but when bullets even rubber bullets are fired from close range, those may cause deaths.
The BSF very often detain Bangladeshi smugglers from the border areas and hand over them to the BGB, Nitin said adding that bullets are also fired if necessary at the Indian smugglers, causing deaths sometimes.

The BSF head, however, did not reply to a question about whether they would take any initiative to install CCTV cameras in the border areas and initiate a joint investigation over the death incidents on the frontiers.
The BSF delegation consisting of nine members and the BGB delegation comprising 16 members, including members from the Prime Minister’s Office, foreign ministry, home ministry, and Joint River Commission, discussed various bilateral issues during DG-level border conference held from 5 March to 9 March.
In the press conference, the BGB DG said that he urged the BSF chief to take necessary measures to reduce the border killings to zero considering the sound bilateral relation prevailing between Bangladesh and India.

The BGB chief also expressed his optimism to curb various types of trans-border crimes like smuggling, human trafficking, inadvertent border crossing, and any kind of terrorist activities.
Both the delegation reiterated their existing zero-tolerance stance on trans-border insurgent groups and agreed to take all necessary steps to prevent trans-border movements by real-time information, the BGB DG said.

To reduce the impact of contaminated water coming through four canals in Akhaura area, both sides also agreed to conduct joint survey and take necessary actions to prevent health hazards for the locals.
During the border conference, the BGB also urged the BSF to immediately reopen the Rahimpur canal’s link with the River Kushiyara under Zakiganj upazila in Sylhet to facilitate the irrigation and ease people’s sufferings.

Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui said the mouth of Rahimpur canal should be reopened to facilitate the irrigation in the 5,000 hectares of cultivable lands on the banks of the River Kushiyara and ease the suffering of the people in the bordering area in Zakiganj.