Jamaat-e-Islami and 11 allied Islamist parties in Bangladesh on Wednesday (10th June) announced a series of countrywide protests against the alleged push-ins and killings of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants from India. The parties said they will march to several border points along the Indo-Bangladesh border on Friday (12th June) to resist the alleged Indian action.
Jamaat Assistant Secretary General and coordinator of the alliance’s liaison committee, Hamidur Rahman Azad, addressed a press conference in Dhaka on Thursday (10th June). During the press conference, Azad said that protests will be organised in all border districts and important frontiers on 12th June, which will be followed by a protest rally in the Shahbagh area of Dhaka on 15th June.
“The Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) must be strengthened further to prevent push-ins. People in border areas should form a human shield so that terrorists, smugglers or criminals cannot enter Bangladesh,” Azad said. “We have remained uncompromising in defending the country’s independence and sovereignty, and we will continue to do so. Push-ins will be resisted at any cost,” he added
Azad cited certain media reports and claimed that attempts had been made to push people into Bangladesh at more than 50 locations along the border during March, April and May this year, involving 2,479 individuals. He further claimed that during the initial 100 days of the current Bangladeshi government, 19 Bangladeshis were killed and 24 others injured by gunfire from India’s Border Security Force (BSF). He alleged that 83 people had been detained or abducted by the BSF and Myanmar’s Arakan Army.
“There is no legal provision for killing anyone at the border. Even if a person commits a crime, there are legal procedures to arrest and bring them under the law. Directly shooting and killing people is a clear violation of human rights and an attack on Bangladesh’s sovereignty,” Azad said, criticising a recent statement by Bangladeshi Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed. Earlier this month, Azad compared Ahmad’s remarks on border issues to those of Indian ministers and accused the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government of being too soft on India.
The development comes after the Indian government intensified its crackdown against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in the exercise of its sovereign right to protect and safeguard its territory and people from foreign threats. The Indian authorities have been identifying and deporting illegal immigrants across the country, many of whom have been living disguised as citizens by forging documents.
