India, Bangladesh agree to launch new 'hotline' between border forces

New Delhi: India and Bangladesh have decided to establish a new communication link between the deputy commanders of their respective border-guarding forces and identified about 99 fresh patches for erecting a fence along their shared border.

The decisions were finalised during the biannual director general-level talks between the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) that concluded here on Thursday, sources in the security establishment told PTI.

This was the first time that a high-level meeting between the two forces took place after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh on August 5 last year.

The three-day talks, held from February 18 to February 20, went off in a "cordial manner", with the Indian side able to "convince" its neighbour about the importance of fencing on the remaining areas of the 4,096-km-long frontier that spans across five Indian states on the eastern flank, the sources said.

A total of 864.48 km of the front remains unfenced, including 174.51 km of "non-feasible" gap, according to official data.

The two sides have decided to open a new "hotline" for effective communication after the latest round of DG-level talks. This link will be between the additional director general (ADG) of the BSF eastern command based in Kolkata and his BGB counterpart posted at the force's headquarters in Dhaka, the sources said.

It was felt "necessary and important" to enhance the engagement between the two sides and hence, this new platform for commanders' interaction has been agreed upon and included in the official records for the first time, they added.

Currently, "hotlines" or links of communication exist between the two force chiefs and officers in the ranks of inspector general (regional commander for the BGB), deputy inspector general (sector commander for the BGB) and other field-level officers.

These communication lines are used to convey real-time information and intelligence so that issues related to the front and instances of cross-border crimes can be checked promptly.

The BSF delegation, headed by its Director General Daljit Singh Chawdhary, also asked the BGB to take "stringent and effective" steps to ensure that Bangladeshi miscreants and criminals are not able to "breach" their security layer and cross the border to attack BSF personnel and Indian civilians.

Apart from "attacks and assaults" on BSF troops and the Indian population, it was categorically mentioned in the official records that instances of "abuse" against the personnel will be dealt with strongly by the force, the sources said.

The BGB delegation, led by its DG, Major General Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui, has promised to further strengthen the joint patrolling of the border protocol and enhance vigil during the night hours.

The meeting also discussed that fencing or the creation of a single-row fence (SRF) at about 99 patches, covering around 70-72 km of the front, needs to be initiated after due consultations and a joint inspection by the two sides, according to the sources.

The fencing work at the earlier "agreed upon" 92 patches, covering about 95.8 km of the border, is already in progress, the sources said.

The visiting Bangladeshi delegation left for Dhaka on Thursday and the next round of talks (56th edition) is slated to be held in the neighbouring country in July.