Bangladesh terms India's allegation 'baseless'

Dhaka, June 15: The Bangladesh Foreign Ministry today dismissed as ''baseless'' the allegation made by the Indian High Commission here that the Bangladeshi Rifles (BDR) men provided protection to the cattlehead smugglers.

The allegation led to firing on Indo-Bangladesh border between BDR-BSF on June 13, killing a BSF jawan.

''The allegation is baseless,'' Mr Zahirul Huq, spokesman for Bangladesh Foreign Ministry, said.

BSF officials of the Indian High Commission in a release yesterday allegedly held BDR responsible for the incident in Bangladesh's western frontier of Satkhira bordering the North 24 Parganas of West Bengal.

He said Indian BSF killed 52 unarmed Bangladeshi nationals since November last year.

''We're in touch with the Indian authorities,'' the spokesman added.

He said the Indo-Bangladesh meetings held at various levels agreed that civilians would not be shot dead under any circumstances.

UNI