Work on to end border killings: Shinde

Shushil Kumar Shinde Indian minister for Home affairs told Foreign Minister Dipu Moni at the latter’s office on the last day of his two-day visit that they were working to end border killings.

The two countries on Monday signed extradition treaty to facilitate transfer of criminals and terrorists, and the Revised Travel Arrangement (RTA) to liberalise visa regime.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a media statement said Shinde reiterated that the Indian side was committed to bringing down the number of incidents of death to zero.

It said the Foreign Minister raised the issue noting that despite commitment at the highest level of Indian government on zero border killings, “recurrence of incidents of violence continued to be a matter of concern for the people”.

Both of them noted that the revival of the mechanism of regular consultation between Deputy Commissioners and District Magistrates of the bordering districts would have a ‘positive impact’ on border management.

“…the administration on both sides would then be able to resolve many issues at the local level before they became major irritants.”

The ministers underscored that the signing of the extradition treaty and RTA would have ‘considerable positive impact’ on bilateral relations.

Moni asserted that her government was firm in its commitment to fight terrorism and ‘would not allow its soil to be used by anyone against the interest of a friendly country’.

On the issue of facilitation of travel, she requested the Indian Home Minister to implement an earlier decision for making the immigration facilities at Banglabandha-Phulbari operational.

She also referred to the pending issue of the ratification of the Land Boundary Agreement 1974 and its Protocol signed in 2011 and hoped that the Indian side would take necessary measures so that the “two instruments could be implemented in full and the long pending issue could be laid to a rest”.

According to the statement, she also expressed hope that other pending issues, including the signing of the Teesta water-sharing agreement, would be resolved at an early date.bdnews24.com

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