Fifteen years before a guilty plea in New York exposed an Indian government employee’s alleged role in a plot to assassinate a Sikh activist, the body of a 15-year-old Bangladeshi girl hung from the India-Bangladesh border fence for hours.
asserted
body → expose → hours
Felani Khatun was shot dead by India’s Border Security Force on January 7, 2011, as she crossed the frontier with her father near Kurigram.
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she → shoot → Kurigram
The image of her body caught in the wire became one of Bangladesh’s most searing symbols of its unequal relationship with its larger neighbour.
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image → catch → neighbour
Yet the years that followed brought neither a final sense of justice for her family nor an end to such killings.
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that → follow → killings
The scale extends far beyond the cases that became national symbols.
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that → extend → cases
Ain o Salish Kendra data show that the BSF shot and killed 285 Bangladeshi civilians between 2014 and February 2026, an average of nearly 24 a year.
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BSF → show → 24
A further ten Bangladeshis were killed in BSF-linked border violence during the first half of 2026, according to the rights organisation.
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Bangladeshis → kill → organisation
That history gives Bangladesh a distinct vantage point from which to view the cases of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada and Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the United States.
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history → give → States
For Ottawa and Washington, these cases opened a relatively new debate over alleged Indian transnational repression.
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cases → open → repression
When Indian security interests collide with the lives and rights of people beyond India’s borders, who is powerful enough to demand accountability?
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who → collide → accountability
The answer, so far, appears to depend heavily on where the victim is found.
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victim → appear → ?
In February 2026, Nikhil Gupta pleaded guilty in a Manhattan federal court to murder-for-hire and related charges in a plot targeting Pannun, a US citizen and prominent advocate of a separate Sikh state.
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Gupta → plead → state
According to the US Justice Department, Gupta acted at the direction of Vikash Yadav, who worked for the Indian government from the Cabinet Secretariat, which houses the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s main external intelligence agency.
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which → accord → Wing
Prosecutors said Yadav supplied information about the target and agreed to a $100,000 payment.
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Yadav → say → payment
The supposed hitman was an undercover US law-enforcement officer.
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hitman → suppose → ?
The plea does not establish that Prime Minister Narendra Modi or his cabinet authorised the operation.
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Modi → establish → operation
Nor does it prove the outstanding charge against Yadav, who has not been arrested.
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who → prove → Yadav
It does, however, establish Gupta’s criminal participation and give judicial weight to the US allegation that an Indian government employee directed the plot.
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employee → establish → plot
India has described the episode as the misconduct of an individual acting outside state policy.
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India → describe → policy
Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh activist, was shot dead outside a gurdwara in British Columbia in June 2023.
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Nijjar → shoot → June
Canada’s then prime minister, Justin Trudeau, later spoke of credible allegations of Indian state involvement, which New Delhi denied.
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Delhi → speak → which
In July 2026, U.S. and Canadian authorities announced charges against Lawrence Bishnoi and members of an alleged transnational criminal network in connection with Nijjar’s murder and other crimes.
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authorities → announce → murder
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the charges announced at that stage did not produce evidence linking Indian government officials to them.
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charges → say → them
Bangladesh’s own experience with the murder of student leader Sharif Osman Hadi provides a different but instructive comparison.
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experience → provide → comparison
Hadi was shot in Dhaka in December 2025, and Bangladeshi investigators say the principal suspects fled to India, where they were subsequently arrested.
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they → shoot → India
There is no public evidence that the Indian state directed Hadi’s killing.
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state → be → killing
The parallel lies instead in what followed: although India and Bangladesh agreed in April 2026 that the suspects would be returned under their extradition treaty, by July Dhaka said it had completed the required legal and diplomatic formalities and was still awaiting India’s approval.
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it → lie → approval
The case became another test of how readily accountability can stall when evidence and suspects cross into a more powerful neighbour’s jurisdiction.
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evidence → become → jurisdiction
The prosecution of alleged gang members and the wider inquiry into foreign interference are separate questions.
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prosecution → allege → interference
Canadian officials had previously alleged that Indian representatives used the Bishnoi network to intimidate or attack Sikh separatists.
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representatives → allege → separatists
The defensible conclusion is not that Canada cleared India while the United States condemned it.
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States → clear → it
It is that the public evidence has developed differently in the two jurisdictions, and that the Pannun case has gone further in establishing an operational link to an Indian official.
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case → develop → official
As Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, notes, “There are also serious concerns about transnational repression targeting diaspora Indians or foreign nationals, including those of Indian origin, for criticising the Modi administration.”
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Ganguly → note → administration
Lack of accountability
Bangladesh should resist the temptation to collapse every case into a single conspiracy.
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Bangladesh → resist → conspiracy
BSF shootings at the frontier arise from border enforcement, alleged smuggling and irregular crossings, but that legal distinction must not erase the question of impunity.
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distinction → arise → impunity
A suspected border offence is not a death sentence, and every fatal shooting requires an independent investigation capable of producing accountability.
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shooting → suspect → accountability
The figures show why this is not merely a historical grievance.
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this → show → ?
Ain o Salish Kendra recorded 34 Bangladeshis killed in BSF firing or torture in 2025 — 24 in shootings and 10 allegedly following physical torture, while further deaths were reported in 2026, including two Bangladeshis killed along the Kasba border in May.
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deaths → record → May
In September 2024, Bangladeshi schoolgirl Swarna Das was shot near the Moulvibazar border.
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Das → shoot → border
Like Felani, her age and the circumstances of her death transformed an otherwise routine diplomatic protest into a national symbol.
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age → transform → symbol
…and 36 more, not listed.
The Aporia
