Opposition Chief Whip and National Citizen Party (NCP) Convener Nahid Islam has demanded the immediate withdrawal of Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed’s recent statements on border killings, calling them “deeply objectionable and humiliating.”
In a statement issued on Saturday, Nahid Islam said it was a matter of “profound national shame” to hear such remarks from a responsible state figure.
The home minister had made comments regarding alleged indiscriminate killings by Indian forces along the border. Nahid Islam noted that even three days later, Salahuddin Ahmed has neither withdrawn nor clarified his remarks.
“No condemnation or disapproval has come from the government regarding such statements. Therefore, we are compelled to assume that Salahuddin Ahmed’s comments reflect the government’s official position on border killings,” the NCP convener said.
Nahid Islam alleged that the home minister attempted to downplay the crisis by narrowing the definition of border killings, arguing that the term applies exclusively to fatalities occurring directly at the zero line.
According to the NCP leader, Salahuddin Ahmed asserted that individuals involved in cross-border crimes or illegal trespass fall entirely under the domestic jurisdiction of the respective nation’s law enforcement, and that by this logic, it is improper to classify such fatalities as border killings.
The opposition chief whip, however, invoked international legal frameworks to counter the home minister’s position.
He said United Nations human rights principles and the Geneva Conventions strictly prohibit unlawful shootings, torture, or brutal treatment of unarmed civilians. The Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols explicitly forbid violence against civilian populations, even during war or armed conflict, he added.
Furthermore, Nahid Islam said UN principles governing law enforcement dictate that security forces may use only necessary and proportionate force, and that any excessive or indiscriminate use of lethal force constitutes a direct violation of international law.
The NCP convener recalled that in 2020, AK Abdul Momen, foreign minister in ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s administration, had sparked similar outrage with his remarks on border killings.
“Momen’s subservient stance toward India is widely recognised. This compliance ultimately relegated that regime to the dustbin of history,” he said.
He expressed concern that such compromising rhetoric is now coming from the home minister of the post-revolution government.
