The Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has conveyed to India’s Border Security Force (BSF) its ‘deep concern’ over death and injury caused to Bangladeshi nationals along the border between the two countries.
BGB chief Major General Aziz Ahmed told his BSF counterpart Subhash Joshi that Bangladesh continued to be deeply concerned over the death of its nationals along the border.
Joshi, on his part, assured him that the BSF would take ‘all possible measures’ to bring down the number of such incidents.
The issue was raised at the 37th border coordination meet between the two border forces in New Delhi. Ahmed led the 23-member delegation from Bangladesh, while 25-member Indian delegation was headed by Joshi.
The BGB and the BSF discussed various measures to curb trans-border crimes and violence on border, and agreed to increase joint patrolling on the border to prevent movement of criminals, smugglers and insurgents.
Both Ahmed and Joshi agreed to increase the number of Simultaneous Coordinated Patrols in vulnerable areas, especially during night, apart from enhancing sharing of intelligence and raising frequency of meetings between field-level functionaries for curbing trans-border criminal activities.
During the meet that ended on Friday, both sides reiterated their commitment to continue active mutual cooperation and decided to share real-time intelligence and strengthen the existing mechanism for better coordination in fighting elements involved in criminal activities.
The two sides also agreed to operationalise Joint Task Force on Fake Indian Currency Notes at the earliest.
For effective border management and swift resolution of problems related to border, the BGB and the BSF decided to implement ‘Coordinated Border Management Plan’ in letter and spirit.
Ahmed and Joshi on Friday told journalists that they also agreed to continue close cooperation, including sharing of actionable information on drug traffickers. To prevent smuggling of drugs and narcotics including phensedyl, Joshi emphasized on the need for early fencing of unfenced stretches prone to smuggling and requested Ahmed for cooperation from the BGB.
They later decided to carry out a joint verification of such stretches at the earliest, so that fencing could be done there expeditiously.
The two border forces also agreed to maintain the sanctity of the international border and take appropriate steps to prevent illegal border crossings and human trafficking. bdnews24.com
