NE insurgents' presence in Bangla to top BSF-BDR talks' agenda

Indian and Bangladeshi border forces today launched their three-day talks here in which issues like presence of northeastern insurgents in this country, "shoot-outs" at the frontier and cross-border crimes, including human trafficking, are expected to dominate the agenda.

Indian and Bangladeshi border forces on Sunday launched their three-day talks here in which issues like presence of northeastern insurgents in this country, "shoot-outs" at the frontier and cross-border crimes, including human trafficking, are expected to dominate the agenda.

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The Director General-level "talks have started", a Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) spokesman said.

The 24-member Bangladeshi side at the meeting is being led by BDR Director General Maj Gen Mainul Islam while his counterpart in Border Security Force (BSF) M L Kumawat is heading the 18-strong Indian delegation at the BDR's Pilkhana headquarters, the scene of the bloody February mutiny here.

The spokesman said the "killings" of Bangladeshi civilians in the frontier villages will be on top of the BDR agenda while BSF is likely to highlight the issues of cross-border crimes including human trafficking and smuggling in the routine Director General-level meeting.

"This is the first full fledged meeting of the two border forces since the February 25-26 (BDR) carnage at Pilkhana," BDR chief Islam told PTI last night.

Islam claimed that several Bangladeshis lost their lives in recent months in BSF gunshots and BDR would request the Indian border guards to stop this and "abide by the international law and law of their own country".