New Delhi: Bangladesh foreign secretary Md. Jashim Uddin expressed “deep concern” over the recent tensions surrounding fencing along the border with India, as well as over the killing of a Bangladeshi citizen reportedly by the Border Security Forces (BSF), during a meeting Sunday with High Commissioner Pranay Verma in Dhaka.
“We have an understanding with regard to fencing the border for security. Our two border guard enforcements—BSF and BGB—have been in communication in this regard. We expect the understanding will be implemented and that cooperative approach to combating crime,” Verma told reporters after the meeting with the Bangladeshi foreign secretary, as reported by BSS, the state-run news agency.
Verma added that discussions also took place about India’s commitment to effectively combatting crime along the border, including smuggling and trafficking activities.
Verma was seen entering the foreign ministry in Dhaka at around 3 p.m. The meeting lasted around 45 minutes.
The foreign secretary “stressed that activities particularly the unauthorised attempt to construct barbed wire fencing and the related operational actions by the BSF have caused tensions and disturbances along the border,” according to a press release published by Bangladesh’s foreign ministry.
“Referring to the recent killing of a Bangladesh citizen at Sunamganj by BSF, [the] foreign secretary expressed deep concern and disappointment over such repetition of border killings,” it added.
According to news report from Bangladesh, Saidul Islam, 23, was allegedly killed by the BSF at the border in Sunamganj, last Wednesday. Islam, was reported to have been illegally carrying betel nuts to India, when he was reportedly shot by the BSF and later rescued by the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) before being declared dead at a local hospital.
Fencing tensions
Tensions rose earlier in the week after the BGB objected to Border Security Force’s (BSF) attempt to erect fencing in certain areas along the border between the two countries.
The two forces held a meeting Thursday at the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Petrapole in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district. The meeting was attended by BSF’s South Bengal Frontier inspector-general Maninder P.S. Pawar and BGB Brigadier-General Mohammad Humayun Kabir.
The dispute stems around the BSF’s attempt to erect a border fence in the Sukdevpur in Malda district, as well as other areas such as Cooch Behar, according to news reports. Earlier last week the BSF’s attempt of installing a single row barbed wire fence in Sukdevpur saw objections from the BGB, and the eventual stop in the fencing work.
The two countries share a border of 4,096.7 km—the largest land border shared by India with its neighbouring nations. The two countries have developed combined mechanisms to manage the border, including high-level talks between the BSF and the BGB, as well as talks between their nodal drugs control agencies.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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