Reports of attacks on minorities in Bangladesh 'exaggerated', says BGB chief amid joint briefing with BSF

A joint press conference was addressed by India's Border Security Force (BSF) Daljit Singh Chaudhary, Director General of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Major General Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui

New Delhi: The chief of Bangladesh's border guarding force on Thursday termed the reports of attacks on minorities in his country as "exaggerated", asserting that authorities have taken steps for their protection.

Addressing a joint press conference along with chief of India's Border Security Force (BSF) Daljit Singh Chaudhary, Director General of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Major General Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui said the Bangladeshi delegation has raised objection with regard to fencing at some places along the Indo-Bangladesh border and it was hopeful that the issues would be resolved in the future.

Chaudhary, on his part, said infiltration along the international border has come down substantially after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5, 2024.

On the issue of minorities, Siddiqui said, "Attacks on minorities in Bangladesh are exaggerated. We got several requests from minorities as they were afraid but BGB convinced them that we will help".

The BGB chief said issues related to fencing were discussed at length at their bi-annual meeting with the BSF as it was the most focussed agenda.

"We have requested for joint inspection wherever there are issues," he said.

Siddiqui also said there was no discussion on reworking the India-Bangladesh border treaty which was agreed upon in 1975.

"This was not in purview of this meeting," he said.

This was the 55th edition of the bi-annual DG-level border talks between India and Bangladesh undertaken by their respective frontier guarding forces- BSF and the BGB.

It was the first top-level meeting between the two border guarding forces after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in August last year.

The BSF guards the 4,096 km long India-Bangladesh boundary that runs across five states -- West Bengal (2,217 km), Tripura (856 km), Meghalaya (443 km), Assam (262 km) and Mizoram (318 km).

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