Officials of Border Security Forces and Pakistan Rangers in a meeting in Attari on Wednesday discussed the issue of illegal border crossing and agreed to exercise restrain with innocent civilians crossing the international border inadvertently.
Deputy Director General of Pakistan Rangers Brigadier M Qaiser Khan Tareen said Pakistan will not kill innocent Indians on inadvertently crossing the IB.
In India with a 10-members delegation, Brigadier Tareen was received at Attari check post by the BSF DIG G S Virk in the morning.
In the quarterly meeting the core issue was to save the lives of civilians living on both sides of the IB.
"Pakistan has been following international norms in this regard and whenever, we found any innocent Indian citizen on our territory, we always repatriated him to India within the specific period of 72 hours," Tareen added.
However, the BSF officials at the Attari check post informed that Pakistan has repatriated only four Indian civilians in the last 10 months, whereas, India has repatriated 40 Pakistani nationals in the last 10 months.
"Both sides took stock of the prevailing situation on the Indo-Pak border and deliberated upon various issues to evolve a mutually agreeable procedure for effective and smooth management of the International border," Virk said.
Virk informed that discussions were also held on the issue of illegal border crossings and both sides have agreed to exercise control by initiating positive steps.
He said that the BSF also brought up the issue of illegal trafficking of narcotics to India. He added that the BSF has conveyed its deep concerns to its Pakistani counterpart about the construction of a defence structure in close proximity of the IB.