DHAKA: An Indian plan to build more fencing on the border with Bangladesh will not stop illegal cattle trading, which leads to regular deaths in the area, a Bangladeshi official said on Monday. In recent years, India has erected a barbed wire fence along more than half of the 4,000-kilometre (2,500-mile) border in recent years.
But Major Mahmudul Hasan of the Bangladesh Rifles said further fencing will not stop cattle trade.
He said 59 people, including 34 Bangladeshis, 21 Indians and four others, had been in killed by Indian Border Security Forces (BSF) in the last six months.
"Most of the killings are related to illegal cattle trading. If it was legal to trade cattle the killings will stop," Hasan said.
He said the fencing would not reduce the deaths because cattle traders would simply cut through it.
In majority Hindu India, cows are considered sacred and beef is not eaten but in Muslim Bangladesh, beef is a staple and the price is much higher.
"If Indian authorities find illegal intruders in their territory, they should bring about justice through legal means, but killing them by indiscriminate fire is a serious human rights violation," Hasan said.
BSF chief Ashish Kumar Mitra, in Dhaka for a meeting with Bangladeshi border officials, said the existing fencing had reduced crime in the region.
Poster Comment:
They just want some beef.
