Dr Muhammad Yunus, the Chief Advisor of the Interim Government has condemned the killing of Bangladeshis by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF). He described border killings as 'callousness'. He also called for an end to the border killings as 'cruelty'.
Muhammad Yunus stated these in an interview given to India's state-owned news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) at his official residence in Dhaka on Thursday (September 5).
The chief advisor also said that the interim government would try to resolve the long-pending Teesta water-sharing agreement with India. Because delaying it for years does not serve any country's goals.
On the controversial issue of border killing, Dr Yunus said, killing someone is not a solution. Because there are legal ways to deal with it. There must be a ground process and legal procedure to manage it. It is a one-sided affair. No one is crossing the border to occupy the country. Those who are shooting and killing are just shameless. It must be closed.
Earlier, a 13-year-old Bangladeshi girl Shwarna Das was killed at the hands of India’s Border Security Force (BSF) on September 1.
Pointing out that the water distribution problem between the two countries must be resolved according to international norms, Professor Yunus said that basin countries like Bangladesh have specific rights, which they want to preserve.
He said, that sitting on this issue (water distribution) is not serving any purpose. It is better if I sign without being happy knowing how much water I will get. This problem needs to be solved.
Dr. Yunus told PTI, "We have to sit together and solve it."
He also said that this is not a new issue, but a very old issue. We have talked about this several times. Discussions about this started during the Pakistan regime. While we all wanted this deal to be finalized, the Indian government was also ready for it. However, the West Bengal state government did not agree then.