Outgoing chief of the India's Border Security Force UK Bansal has suggested legalising cattle trade with Bangladesh so as to bring down the number of killings along the borders.
Published : 01 Dec 2012, 04:54 AM
Most of the victims along the borders of the neighbouring countries are mainly cattle traders who smuggle cows from India.
The BSF chief observed the scale of cattle smuggling could not be controlled by sheer policing, The Times of India reported.
"We all have to think about it seriously. It is not a problem that can be solved by policing," Bansal was quoted as saying by the newspaper when asked if the illegal cattle trade should be legalised given the economic realities in Bangladesh.
He was speaking at the BSF's annual press conference in New Delhi on Thursday.
Many Bangladeshis lose their lives while smuggling cattle for a nominal remuneration, and the Indian border guards have been under fire from various human rights organisations for border killings.
However, the proposal was sure to attract flaks from groups advocating cow protection in India despite its apparent pragmatism, the report said.
According to a Dhaka-based human rights organisation, over 1,000 Bangladeshis were killed in BSF firing in the last decade and as many were injured.
On Nov 28, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told Parliament that the BSF had killed at least 261 Bangladeshis since 2006.
According to the Indian government figures, 32 Bangladeshi cattle traders were gunned down by its border force in 2010.
The Times of India report quoted a BSF official, who had served on the Indo-Bangla border, as saying that the "sheer economics of the trade" had made cattle smuggling unstoppable.
"The industry is worth thousands of crores of rupees in Bangladesh," he said.