India-Bangladesh border talks next week; fencing, attacks by Bangladeshi miscreants on agenda

New Delhi: The border forces of India and Bangladesh will hold their bi-annual talks here next week with issues such as border fence construction and attacks on BSF personnel and civilians by Bangladeshi miscreants figuring among the discussion points, an official statement said on Friday.

The 55th Director General-Level Border Coordination Conference between BSF and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) will be organised at the Border Security Force (BSF) headquarters here between February 17-20 February.

This would be the first top-level meeting between the two sides after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in August last year.

The Indian side will be led by BSF Director General (DG) Daljit Singh Chawdhary while the BGB delegation will be headed by Maj General Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui.

The conference is being organised to discuss border-related issues and for better coordination between both the border guarding forces, the BSF said in a statement.

Discussions will be held on prevention of attack/assault on BSF personnel and Indian civilians by Bangladesh-based miscreants/nationals, how to prevent trans-border crimes, construction of single row fence, action against Indian Insurgent Groups in Bangladesh, issues related to border infrastructure, joint efforts for effective implementation of Coordinated Border Management Plan, Confidence Building Measures and other issues.

The last edition of these bi-annual talks was held in Dhaka in March last year.

The 4,096 km long India-Bangladesh boundary spans across five states -- West Bengal (2,217 km), Tripura (856 km), Meghalaya (443 km), Assam (262 km) and Mizoram (318 km). The BSF is designated as the lead security and intelligence-gathering agency for this front.

The ties between the two countries came under strain after the neighbours summoned each other's high commissioners in December last year.

While Bangladesh expressed to the Indian high commissioner its concern over the "activities" of the BSF vis-a-vis fence erection and border killings, India made it clear to the acting Bangladeshi high commissioner in Delhi that all laid down protocols were being followed while constructing the fence.

The government also informed Parliament in the Budget session that India has conveyed to Bangladesh that it expects a cooperative approach from the neighbouring country for combating cross-border crimes and this includes the border fencing work.

Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said in a written reply in Parliament that the unfenced part of this front was 864.482 km, which includes 174.51 km of "non-feasible" gap.

"Construction of fence is an important measure for securing the border. Fencing helps to ensure a crime-free border by effectively addressing the challenges of cross-border criminal activities, smuggling, movement of criminals and trafficking," Rai said.

He added the challenges faced in completing the "feasible" stretches of fencing projects relate to land acquisition, BGB objections, limited working season and landslide/marshy land.

The BSF last month said its "strong objection" led to the stopping of "illegal" construction by Bangladeshi citizens and its frontier force along the International Border in West Bengal, a phenomenon it said was "increasing" in recent times.

According to sources who spoke to PTI, the Indian side is expected to put across instances of spiked infiltration attempts by Bangladeshi nationals across this front after August last year.

These instances are linked to human trafficking and cross-border smuggling, the sources said earlier.

Bangladesh's interim government had recently said in Dhaka that it would seek to scrap some "uneven agreements" on borders with India during the meeting of the directors general of the border guards of the two countries to be held between February 17-20.