Spike in cross border smuggling, trafficking, killings despite Modi-Hasina positive posture

By Kirity Roy*
On the four-day India tour undertaken by Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina since 5th September, 2022, both the countries have entered into many bilateral agreements and signed MoUs in that regard. On 7th September, 2022, a joint statement was released by both the Prime Ministers, where both of them expressed satisfaction on the matter that the number of killings at the Indo-Bangladesh border has been reduced significantly.
They have also praised the border guards of both the countries for their efforts to stop smuggling and trafficking across the border. However, the Prime Ministers agreed that there’s still something to do on the matter to bring down the number of border killings to zero.
It is ironical that a few hours after the release of the joint statement, Minarul Islam, a minor Bangladeshi school student, was shot dead at the Dainur border of South Dinajpur district by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF).
As per our estimate the number of killings by the border guards at the Indo-Bangladesh border has drastically increased in this decade. Reports state that the killings have increased from 150 per year in the past decade to almost 200 per year in this decade.
The Monmohan Singh government in July 2011 had made an effort to reduce border killings by introducing non-lethal weapons to the BSF at the Indo-Bangladesh border.

However, as soon as the Modi government came into power in 2014, the decision was reverted back to the usage of lethal weapons by the BSF, which resulted in rampant killings at this border.

The border guards, who are being praised by the Prime Ministers for their efforts to curb smuggling, are in turn the perpetrators who are facilitating cross border movements across the border.

Without border guards of both the countries aiding movement, cross border smuggling couldn’t have been possible

It has been proved time and again that without the border guards of both the countries aiding the cross border movements, narcotics and cattle smuggling couldn’t have been possible at the Indo-Bangladesh border. There are corrupt officers in the forces of both the countries who facilitate such illegal trade across the border.

Moreover, the kingpins of the robust syndicate that controls cattle and narcotics smuggling across the border are unnoticed and the marginalized rattlers, who lean on smuggling for a few amount of cash, are being killed.
However, praising the border guards’ actions by the Prime Ministers either reflects their naivety on the issue or their political intention to subdue the illegal actions of the forces of these two neighbouring countries.
The political intent of the governments that has been reflected through this statement seeks to conceal facts, propagate false information and non-cognizance of the sufferings of the border populace. The exact number of killings along the Indo-Bangladesh border should come to light and the guilty border guards should be tried under law for their trigger-happy attitude.
If the true intent of the governments of both the countries is to stop killings at the border, then their actions should start with ending impunity within the countries by taking punitive actions against the guilty personnel.
---
*Secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM); national convenor, Programme Against Custodial Torture & Impunity (PACTI), Hooghly

Comments

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Search This Blog