Yunus describes border killings by BSF as ‘callousness’

Staff Correspondent: Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus has condemned border killings of Bangladeshis by India’s Border Security Force, describing it as callousness and insisting they must stop because killing is no solution.

In an interview with India’s state-owned news agency the Press Trust of India, or PTI, at his official residence in Dhaka, he also said the interim government would pursue ways to resolve differences over the long-pending Teesta water sharing treaty with India, as delaying it for years serves no purpose for either nation.

Speaking about the contentious issue of border killings, Yunus condemned it and said killing is not a solution to dealing with anything.

“Killing someone is not a solution, as there are legal ways to deal with this. There has to be a ground mechanism and legal procedure to handle it. This is a one-sided thing. No one is crossing the border to capture your country; those who are being killed by shooting are just couriers. This is callousness. This has to stop,” he said.

Yunus stated that the water-sharing issue between the two countries must be resolved according to international norms, emphasising that lower riparian countries like Bangladesh have specific rights that they seek to uphold.

“By sitting over this issue (water sharing), it is not serving any purpose. If I know how much water I will get, even if I am not happy and sign it, it would be better. This issue has to be resolved,” he said.

Replying to a query on whether the interim government would push for resolving the issues over the Teesta water-sharing treaty at the earliest, he said the new regime will pursue it.

“Push is a big word; I am not saying it. We will pursue it. But we have to sit together and resolve it,” he told PTI.

“This is not a new issue but a very old issue. We have spoken on this issue on several occasions. The discussions began during the period of Pakistan’s rule. While we all wanted this treaty to be finalised, even the Indian government was ready for it. However, the state government of West Bengal was not ready for it. We need to resolve it,” he said.

Speaking about the flood situation in Bangladesh and reports from Dhaka blaming India for the floods, Yunus said that until the treaty is signed, a humanitarian approach can be adopted to deal with such crises.

“When the High Commissioner (of India) came to meet me, I said that we can work on better management to see how the situation can be controlled during the floods. For such coordination between two countries, we don’t need any treaty.”

“We can work on this together on humanitarian grounds and resolve this, as this will ease the suffering of the masses. Such humanitarian steps would really help,” he said.

This was the second part of PTI’s interview with the CA. The first part was released on Thursday.