Five-day India, Bangaldesh border talks from tomorrow

New Delhi, Mar 8: India and Bangladesh will discuss issues related to cross-border terrorist activities and joint patrolling of the frontiers as top officers of border guarding forces of both countries begin their five-day meeting here tomorrow (Mar 9).

Border Security Force (BSF) Director General Raman Srivastava will lead the 21-member Indian delegation while Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) chief Major General Rafiqul Islam will head a 20-member contingent of his country.

The Bangladeshi border guarding force was till recently called as the Bangaldesh Rifles (BDR) and its name was changed to BGB after the bloody mutiny by the personnel of the force in 2009.

Sources involved in the talks said while BGB is expected to bring up issues like firing incidents along the border and killing of Bangladeshi personnel, the BSF will stress on issues of better patrolling and vigil on the Indo-Bangla border.

"We expect them to be a friendly force and this is what would be stated in the border co-ordination talks begining tomorrow. Other border issues will also be discussed," a senior BSF officer said.

The talks will also focus on preventing cross-border terrorist movement, trafficking of women, children and contraband, joint management of border pillars, fencing within 150m of the International border and smuggling.

Both the forces are also expected to hand each over a list of militant hideouts in their respctive regions, sources said.

A joint memorandum will be signed by them on Mar 12.

BSF and BGB man the the 4,096-kilometre long India-Bangladesh border and the last talks were held in Dhaka in 2010.

PTI