The 56th director general-level border conference between the Border Guard Bangladesh and India鈥檚 Border Security Force began at the BGB鈥檚 Pilkhana headquarters in Dhaka on Tuesday.
The conference began in the morning and will conclude on August 28, according to a press release issued by the BGB.
BGB DG Major General Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui has been leading the 21-member Bangladesh delegation, while BSF DG Daljit Singh Chaudhary has been heading the 11-member Indian team, the release said. The Bangladesh delegation includes senior BGB officials and representatives from the Chief Adviser鈥檚 Office, home ministry, foreign affairs ministry, shipping ministry, Roads Division, Land Survey Department, Joint River Commission, and the Narcotics Control Department.
The Indian delegation comprises senior BSF officials, officials from the Indian Home and External Affairs Ministries, and the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, the release said.
BGB officials had earlier said that different cross-border crime issues, including border killings, push-ins, illegal intrusion and smuggling drugs, arms and ammunitions, the implementation of development activities within the 150 yards of the international border, and water sharing and the protection of embankments on trans-boundary rivers, and taking joint initiatives to implement the Integrated Border Management Plan would be discussed in the talks.
They also had said that they would raise the issues of recent anti-Bangladesh propaganda in the Indian media, and possible security risks along Bangladesh鈥檚 borders with the Indian state of Assam over the Assam state government鈥檚 decision to allow arms to its indigenous people.
BGB officials on Tuesday said that they would inform about the outcomes of the conference in a press briefing on Thursday.
The previous BGB-BSF DG-level conference was held in Delhi in February, where the BGB urged its counterpart to bring the border killings to zero.
At least 34 Bangladeshis were killed by the BSF in the first year of the interim government鈥檚 tenure, according to rights group Ain O Salish Kendra.
Besides, India has pushed more than 2,000 people, including Rohingyas and Indian nationals, into Bangladesh since May 7.
Bangladesh has 4,156 kilometres of border with India, of which some 180 kilometres fall on different water bodies and 79 kilometres on the Sunderbans.