US embassy cable - 05DHAKA1856

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