Kamrul Islam (38), a fisherman, from Shibnathpur Boroputa village and Aktarul (17), from Putkhali village in Benapole were tortured by the BSF while returning from India on 23 January 2010. They were returning to Bangladesh from India with cows at 4.30 am through the Putkhali border in a group of four. Every one in the group started to run when they noticed three BSF members from Angrail camp sitting in the ‘no mans land’ thereby. Kamrul came face to face with
one who started to beat him with his rifle. Kamrul broke away from the grip of the BSF but another member of his outfit Aktarul was caught. Aktarul was hit on the head with rifles and his arms were stabbed with a curved knife.
Kamrul seemed to be quite forgiving about the whole incident while talking to Odhikar about the experience. People who work in the cattle trade are paid around 1000-2000 taka which is a considerable amount of money for a poor fisherman like Kamrul. He was very embarrassed about the fact that he had to engage in cattle trading because of his poverty. But at the same time he sympathized with the BSF saying that the cows were brought through crop fields of Indian civilians, which damaged the crops. Meanwhile, the reaction of Aktarul was totally different. He seemed to hold a deep resentment against the BSF and India as a whole.
fact-finding-border violence-Islam and Aktarul-2010 (full text in English, PDF)
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