BSF team to visit Dhaka for Indo-Bangla border talks

Top commanders of the border guarding forces of India and Bangladesh will meet later this week to thrash out a number of issues including illegal crossing over and migration to Indian side, and smuggling of narcotics along the eastern frontier.

A delegation led by Border Security Force chief Subhash Joshi will travel to Dhaka for the five-day director general-level talks beginning September 14.

The Indian delegation will include officials from the border management division of the home ministry and from the Ministry of External Affairs.

The talks are a bi-annual affair between the BSF and Border Guard Bangladesh which take place once in India and Bangladesh.

The BGB delegation will be led by its DG Maj Gen AzizAhmed.

Apart from the persistent issues plaguing the 4,096 km Indo-Bangla border, the two forces will discuss issues related to smuggling of fake Indian currency notes, security of border guarding personnel and identification of sensitive posts along the Indo-Bangla border.

The Indian border guards will also take up issues of wrong and misinterpreted accusations levelled against them for the killing of Bangladeshi civilians during the meet.

"In the last six months close to five-six instances of wrongdoing have been levelled against BSF. They have proved to be untrue and totally false. These instances will be raised during the meeting," a senior official said.

The issue of illegal migration is also expected to be brought on the table, the official said.

The BSF DG is also expected to invite senior BGB officials and others to the first retreat ceremony to be held on the Petrapole-Benapole border on October 2.