India, Bangladesh exchange info on terrorists, training camps

New Delhi, Aug 25 (UNI) The Border Security Force (BSF) and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) have agreed to draw up assessment of vulnerability of sensitive areas jointly in designated sectors and exchanged lists of ''terrorists'' during a four-day interaction on border coordination held in Dhaka.

Briefing the media here, BSF Director General A K Mitra said while the Indian side gave the BDR a list of 263 names of wanted criminals who have taken shelter across the border, the Bangladeshis handed over their list of 1464 ''terrorists''.

He said the Indian government handed over seven Bangladeshi criminals unilaterally and expected a similar response from Dhaka.

He said the BSF also has given a list of 110 terrorist training camps in Bangladesh to the Bangladesh Rifles(BDR), about which the BDR officials denied any knowledge of.

Stating that the two sides also agreed to carry out a anti-cattle smuggling drive, the BSF chief said,''Cattling smuggling has become an industry and not just a trans-border crime. We have therefore decided to join hands and let each be updated about information on large-scale movement of cattle.'' He said last 1.3 lakh cattleheads were caught last year, at an average of 8500 per month.

The border forces of the two countries also agreed on other issues like immediate communication in the event of firing, informal meetings between the ground forces even in the absence of issues, permission for execution of developmental workds on both sides which are outside the purview of the Joint River COmmission and the like.

On Bangladesh's insistence that no fencing should be put up within 150 yards of the zero line, citing the 1975 border management agreement between the two countries, Mr Mitra said. ''We have urged them to consider relaxing this restriction in at least 46 patches on humanitarian gounds, as the villages will be cut off from the mainland on account of their topography.'' He expressed hope that the conciliation adopted by both the border guarding forces at the 28th India-Bangladesh border coordination conference, will help resolve problems to prepare a fresh map in formulating coordinated strategies.

UNI MMG SP NS1945