By Vinay Kumar

NEW DELHI, APRIL 21. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) today demanded that Bangladesh should apologise for the killing of 16 Border Security Force (BSF) personnel and the brutalities inflicted on them by the personnel of Bangladesh Rifles.

Terming the treatment meted out to the BSF men as ``inhuman,'' the VHP's international president, Mr. Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, said Bangladesh should be treated as an ``enemy'' country if it failed to punish the guilty officials.

The local unit of the Shiv Sena also condemned the action of Bangladesh and said the Indian Foreign and Defence Ministries had not learnt any lessons from the Kargil intrusions. The local unit chief, Mr. Jaibhagwan Goyal, said the NDA Government had proved to be incapable of protecting the country's security and honour.

The VHP leader said the Bangladesh security personnel had violated all norms of civilised society as well as all international conventions. ``All this was perpetrated on our soldiers by a friendly country. Bangladesh has allowed anti-India campaign on its soil and infiltrated nearly one crore Bangladeshis into our country,'' he said. Rapping the Vajpayee Government for ``soft-pedaling'' the issue of killing of BSF men, Mr. Dalmiya demanded strong steps from the Centre to redeem the honour of the men in uniform.

He said the conduct of Bangladesh showed that India was a ``soft country'' and anyone could do anything and get away with it. Urging the Centre to raise the issue before international human rights organisations, he regretted that the international community had remained a silent spectator when bodies of Indian soldiers were mutilated by the Pakistanis during the 1999 Kargil war.

The senior VHP leader, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, said the action of Bangladesh posed a serious challenge to India's sovereignty.

He demanded that the killed BSF men be treated as martyrs and their families be given all benefits. He said the VHP would organise a protest outside the Bangladesh High Commission here on Monday.