B'desh for legalisation of cattle trade to stop cross-border firing

Kolkata, Jul 24 (UNI) In an effort to stop cross-border firing, Bangladesh has proposed legalisation of cattle-trade between India and Bangladesh, Deputy Director General of BDR Brigadier General M A Bari said.

Talking to reporters at the end of a four-day joint coordination conference with the Border Security Force (BSF), he said cattle smuggling from India was a common problem in the border areas and a major cause of transborder firing between BSF and BDR.

" Being border guarding agencies, we generally don't open fire at each other, unless there is any report of fence breaching, cattle smuggling or human trafficking. When firing takes place on one side of the border, troops sitting on the other side perceive the firing is coming from the enemy side. So they also open fire," BSF Inspector General (South Bengal) C V Murlidhar said.

The conference dealt with several trans-border problems, including human trafficking, narcotics and cattle smuggling.

" We also discussed in details on how to avoid unprovoked cross-border firing," Mr Murlidhar said.

A BSF jawan was killed and an Indian villager seriously injured in firing between the two forces in Malda district yesterday.

Last week, two BDR men were shot dead in firing by BSF personnel when they were allegedly trying to assist some Bangladeshis smuggling cattle through the border in Murshidabad district.

Mr Murlidhar said during the joint-coordination meeting BDR handed over to BSF a list of 420 Bangladeshi miscreants, who had been regularly crossing borders and creating problems in West Bengal. " The list contains some most-wanted human traffickers," he said.

This apart they also handed over a list of Indian smugglers who had made Bangladesh their overseas bases of operation, he said.

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