india Bangladesh Meeting Over Border: Director General level talks between the Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) began in Delhi on Tuesday (February 18). In this dialogue, issues related to obstruction of BSF’s fencing work and attacks on BSF personnel and civilians by Bangladeshi miscreants are likely to be raised before the BGB.
This is the first top level meeting between the two border security forces after Sheikh Hasina left the post of Bangladesh Prime Minister in August last year. The 55th Director General level border coordination conference between the two security forces began at the BSF headquarters at Lodhi Road here, where BGB chief Major General Mohammad Ashrafzzaman Siddiqui was welcomed.
Talks were held in Dhaka last year
The Bangladeshi delegation arrived in India on Monday (February 17) and was welcomed by BSF Director General Daljit Singh Choudhary at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport. The BSF had said in a statement last week that the conference is being organised to discuss border-related issues and improve coordination among border security forces. The last edition of these talks was held in Dhaka in March last year.
There was disruption in fencing on the border
The total 4,096 km long India-Bangladesh border extends across five states – West Bengal (2,217 km), Tripura (856 km), Meghalaya (443 km), Assam (262 km) and Mizoram (318 km). Relations between the two countries became tense when in December last year both the countries summoned each other’s High Commissioners over India’s fencing on the border and some other issues.
The government had expressed hope for cooperation in the budget session
The government informed the Parliament in the budget session that India has told Bangladesh that it expects a cooperative attitude from the neighbouring country to deal with cross-border crimes and this also includes the matter of fencing the border. The talks will end on February 20 with the two sides signing the ‘Joint Document of Discussion’.
