While India's relations with Nepal and Bangladesh are already strained, reports surfaced yesterday that three Bangladeshis were killed in the border state of Assam on charges of cattle theft and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's The incident of shaving the head of a Nepali man in Varanasi constituency has raised fears of further deterioration.
According to the Dawn newspaper, the Indian news website The Hindu reported that three Bangladeshi nationals, who were allegedly accused of cattle smuggling, were arrested in the middle of the night of July 18 in the southern district of Karimganj in Assam. Locals abducted him while four others from across the border escaped.
The incident took place in Bogrijan Tea Estate under Patharkandi Police near the Bangladesh border and 1.5 km from the nearest police post, District Superintendent of Police Kumar Sanjeet Krishna said.
He said the investigation revealed that the Bangladeshi nationals had crossed the border from the Bogrijan area with the intention of stealing cows.
He said he had told The Hindu on July 19 at the district headquarters in Karimganj that "these people were killed without due process."
He said some of the items recovered from the three included Bangladeshi biscuits and bread, rope, bags, wire and fence cutters.
Police have recovered the bodies of the three and are being handed over to Bangladeshi authorities by India's Border Security Force.
According to The Hindu, this was the second such incident in Karimganj district in less than two months.
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On June 1, a 43-year-old Bangladeshi man was killed in a tea estate 3km from the Bangladeshi border.
The man was identified as Ranjit Manda and police quoted locals as saying he had come to the estate with three other Bangladeshis and two Indians to steal cows from cattle farmers.
Meanwhile, according to reports, in Kishanganj area of Bihar, Nepali police allegedly opened fire on three people near the Indo-Nepal border, injuring an Indian national.
According to reports, this is the second such incident on the Indo-Nepal border in recent days.
Last month, Nepal's armed police force responsible for border security was accused of firing on a group during a clash at a border post near Sitamarhi in Bihar, killing one Indian and injuring two others. Were
Read also: 25 Bangladeshi civilians killed by Indian Border Force this year
However, senior police officials in Nepal and Bihar described it as a local incident, saying it was not related to a border dispute between Delhi and Kathmandu.
According to The Virus news agency, after last week's anti-Nepal posters and reports of forcible baldness of a Nepali citizen in Varanasi, Nepal's ambassador Nilambar Acharya asked Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to protect Nepalese citizens in the state. Talked
Earlier this week, Nepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli claimed at a ceremony that it was more likely that Lord Rama's birthplace was in Nepal, not India.
A day later, a statement from Nepal's foreign ministry said his words were not meant to hurt feelings and only called for further research into Ramayana's "cultural geography".
The city of Varanasi is deeply connected to Nepal and is home to a large number of Nepalis, many of whom work in temples.
Speaking to The Wire, Nepal's ambassador Nilambar Acharya said he was told last week that posters condemning KP Sharma's remarks and threatening Nepali citizens in India had been put up at the Pashupatinath Temple in Lalita Ghat, Varanasi. Are
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He said the poster was signed by a small popular group, Vishwa Hindu Sena.
The wanted leader of the group later uploaded a video showing an unidentified Nepali citizen with a shaved head with 'Jai Shri Ram' written in black.
The video showed members of the group forcibly chanting "Jai Shri Ram" and "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" to a Nepali man.
He said he had spoken to the Uttar Pradesh chief minister in the morning and asked him to ensure that Nepali citizens did not feel insecure.
He said that he was satisfied with the action taken by the Chief Minister and an FIR has been registered in this regard.
According to The Hindu, Varanasi police said that an FIR has been registered at the Bhelopur police station.
Diplomatic sources said relations between the two governments could fluctuate, but that this should not reflect the relationship between the populations of neighboring countries.
"We have to make sure that no one is outraged at such incidents, it should not be spread like a virus," he said.
