A five-day director general-level conference between Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Border Security Force (BSF) of India began at Guwahati in the Indian state of Assam on Tuesday.
The formal session of the 51st edition of the biannual talks began around 3:00pm. It will continue December 26.
BGB Director General (DG) Major General Md Shafeenul Islam is leading an 11-member Bangladesh delegation while BSF DG Rakesh Asthana a 12-man Indian team at the 51st conference.
The Bangladesh delegation also includes representatives from the Prime Minister’s Office, and Home and Foreign Affairs ministries while the Indian delegation includes BSF senior officials, inspector general of different BSF frontiers, representatives from Indian home and foreign ministries.
Earlier on Tuesday morning, BGB team left Bangladesh through Tamabil border. The Meghalaya frontier inspector general Hardeep Singh welcomed the Bangladesh team at the border.
Later, the Bangladesh delegation was flown to Guwahati where the BSF head, Rakesh Asthana, welcomed them.
Different issues, including firing at unarmed Bangladeshi citizens and shooting them to death along the border, smuggling of drugs, information-sharing about drug factories inside India as well as drug peddlers, smuggling of arms and ammunition and illegal trespassing along the international border will be high on the agenda.
The implementation of the river bank conservation work in the bordering areas of both the countries will be discussed in the meeting.
Obtaining permission to use the Indian part of the Padma River to facilitate the movement of local people in Char Mazardia and Char Khanpur areas along Rajshahi border is also expected to be discussed.The both sides will also discuss exchange of information on the activities of armed terrorists and regional separatist groups within the Indian border.
Besides, there will be talks on effective implementation of the Coordinated Border Management Plan (CBMP) for quick solution of border problems.
They will also sign a Joint Record of Discussion (JRD) on December 25.
Bangladesh delegation will return home on December 26.
