Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05DHAKA1856
2005-04-21 02:30:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Dhaka
Cable title:  

INDO-BANGLADESH BORDER INCIDENT

Tags:  PREL MOPS PGOV IN BG 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L DHAKA 001856 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2010
TAGS: PREL MOPS PGOV IN BG
SUBJECT: INDO-BANGLADESH BORDER INCIDENT


Classified By: P/E Counselor D.C. McCullough, reasons 1.4(b),(d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L DHAKA 001856

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2010
TAGS: PREL MOPS PGOV IN BG
SUBJECT: INDO-BANGLADESH BORDER INCIDENT


Classified By: P/E Counselor D.C. McCullough, reasons 1.4(b),(d)


1. (SBU) On April 16, an exchange of gunfire between the
Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and the Indian Border Security Forces
(BSF) on the northeastern border at Akhaura killed one BSF
officer and at least three Bangladeshis, according to media
and other reports. The incident occurred as the BSF Director
General was in Dhaka meeting with his BDR counterpart in an
effort to reduce border incidents. Since the incident, trade
traffic has reportedly fallen at Bangladesh's 12 land ports
and stopped completely at Benapole and Akhaura.


2. (SBU) On April 17, the Indian High Commission in Dhaka
issued a press release that described the death of the BSF
officer as "pre-planned and pre-meditated." The officer and
a BSF constable, it said, were "dragged inside Bangladesh
territory and attacked by the BDR." The officer's body bore
"marks of bullet injury fired from point blank range and
injuries from sharp cutting weapons." The constable was
reportedly found inside Bangladesh with "serious multiple
injuries."


3. (SBU) On April 20, local media featured MEA's warning that
the incident's "repercussions could not be ignored." Some
accounts claimed the border tension is "unprecedented," and
that post-incident conversations between senior BDG-GOI
officials have had little impact.


4. (SBU) On March 13, prominent human rights NGO Odhikar
released a report claiming that the BSF and "Indian
miscreants" have killed 377 Bangladeshis over the past five
years along the 2600-mile Indo-Bangladeshi border.


5. (C) Comment: Given the charge that the BDR essentially
kidnapped, tortured, and executed the BSF officer, this may
be the most serious border incident since the April 18-19,
2001, battle that killed, according to the BDG, 65 BSF
soldiers and three BDR soldiers after the BSF allegedly tried
to establish a post on Bangladeshi territory. Relations were
already strained following India's nixing of the SAARC summit
in February and a series of provocative statements by both
sides. At an April 21 private luncheon, Ambassador will urge
Foreign Policy Adviser Rahman and State Home Minister Babar
to exercise restraint. We hope Embassy New Delhi will have
an opportunity to urge similar restraint on the GOI.

THOMAS