Dhaka,November 08: Bangladesh on Sunday accused Indian border guards of "unprovoked shooting" that left a 12-year-old girl dead at a frontier village two days back and lodged a strong protest asking New Delhi to rein in its forces.
The foreign office handed over a protest note to the Indian High Commission in Dhaka saying "such shooting incidents are in clear violation of the Bangladesh-India Border Guidelines of 1975".
"Bangladesh strongly protested and expressed deep concern at the unprovoked shooting and killing of a minor Bangladeshi child by Border Security Force of India," said a foreign office statement hours after the protest was registered.
A 12-year-old girl was killed allegedly in firing by BSF on Friday evening and her body was found about 25 yards inside Bangladesh territory at Roumari borders. "Bangladesh has also conveyed concern at the trend of indiscriminate shooting and killing by BSF, which creates unnecessary tensions between the two border security forces... such acts go against the spirit of good neighbourliness and the close friendly relations that exist between Bangladesh and India," the statement said.
According to the statement, Dhaka demanded a "proper investigation" by concerned Indian authorities and necessary legal action against those responsible.
"Bangladesh has also called for a strong policy directive to the BSF to put an end to such shootings," it read.
The cross-border killings largely dominated the director general level border talks in July this year in Dhaka between the BSF and their Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) counterparts.
In July, BSF chief M L Kumawat had said efforts were being made to contain such incidents, but added that the most of the cross-border killings usually take place at the "dark of night".
He acknowledged that 15 percent of such casualties took place during daytime but maintained such cases were extensively investigated both by Indian police and BSF.
--Agencies
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