India, Bangladesh to discuss cross-border crimes

New Delhi: Attacks on the Border Security Force (BSF) personnel and cross-border crimes will be on the agenda of talks between Bangladeshi and Indian frontier forces when they meet for the 47th bi-annual conference between from Monday onwards.

The Indian delegation, headed by K. K. Sharma, Director General (DG) BSF, will hold discussion with the Bangladesh delegation, headed by Major General Shafeenul Islam, DG, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), in Delhi.

The BSF in a statement said it would discuss issues of attacks on its personnel by the Bangladeshi criminals, cross-border crimes, and action against insurgent groups and border infrastructure, among other things.

The BGB has listed among its agenda, issues of trans-border crimes, smuggling of narcotics from India to Bangladesh, arrests of Bangladeshi nationals by BSF, expansion of crime-free zones.

The last such talks were held at Dhaka between the two forces during April 23-27, 2018.

"The joint India-Bangladesh guidelines for border authorities - 1975 envisage that there should be frequent contacts between the border authorities of two countries concerned to discuss the matter of immediate administrative concern," the BSF statement said.