Border forces of Bangladesh and India have agreed on using non-lethal weapons in an effort to stop killings at the borders.
After a meeting of delegations of the forces, led by their chiefs, in Dhaka, the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Border Security Force (BSF) said in a joint announcement on Thursday that they have agreed to end human rights violations on the borders.
“We have decided not to use lethal weapons, which has significantly curbed border killings,” BGB Director General Md Shafinul Islam told the media at a joint news conference with his Indian counterpart.
He, however, claimed that the use of non-lethal weapons has spiked attacks on BSF members by criminals.
BSF Director General KK Sharma echoed. “But still we are using non-lethal measures as we do not want any kind of violation of human rights.”
The ‘46th DG Level Border Conference’ between the forces kicked-off at the BGB headquarters on Apr 23 and ended on Thursday.
On Friday, the BSF delegation will travel to the Banglabandha border in the northern district of Panchagar, where a Joint Retreat Ceremony will be held. The delegation will leave the same day.
The border forces have agreed on joint patrolling to curb cattle and drug smuggling as well as run awareness campaign on residents over international borders, the news conference was told.
Responding to query, BGB chief Major General Islam said that their agenda included the Rohingya issue. “We are alert that so that no one can use the Rohingyas for their own purposes.
He, however, evaded a direct answer on whether some Rohingyas were pushed back into Bangladesh by the BSF.
On questions from the media over smuggling in of contraband Phensedyl, BSF Director General Sharma said it has been banned in India and not legally manufactured anymore.
“But our vigil on the issue continues. We have confiscated around 570,000 bottles in a year,” he added.
Phensedyl is an Indian cough syrup, much in demand with addicts, because it contains chemicals that give consumers a fix.
It’s banned in Bangladesh for quite some time as its Codeine content is unusually high and attracts addicts, who cough up to three times the rate in India to buy these cough syrup bottles.
In 2016, India banned production and marketing of around 350 fixed dose combination (FDC) drugs, including Phensedyl.
According to most conservative estimates, the Phensedyl smuggling volume runs up to as high as nearly Tk 1.9 billion a year.