BDR-BSF meeting begins in Dhaka

DHAKA: A DG-level meeting of BDR and BSF began here on Wednesday amid allegations and counter-allegations.

A 16-member delegation of BSF (Border Security Forces) led by its Director General (DG) RS Mussahari reached Dhaka on Tuesday evening. Major General Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, DG BDR, leads the Bangladesh side.

The four-day meeting is going to be held amid mistrust. The meeting may remain tense, as both the sides are expected to raise allegations and counter-allegations, said Home Ministry sources.

Sources said the main allegations of BDR among others include non-implementation of Mujib-Indira Treaty; erecting barbed wire fences, camps and ring roads within 150 yards of the border; BSF atrocities against the Bangladeshis including killing and kidnapping, smuggling of arms, explosives and narcotics to Bangladesh, sheltering Bangladeshi terrorists, miscreants and secessionists in India, etc.

It is speculated that BSF will table in the meet a longer list of allegations including indiscriminate firing of the BDR on BSF, obstruction in constructing barbed wire fence roads and dams, illegal intrusion of BDR and Bangladeshis, sheltering the Indian secessionists in Bangladesh; media campaign against BSF. BDR will ask BSF to honour the Mujib-Indira Treaty signed in 1974 and the border guidelines of 1975 that prescribe the guidelines of resolving border disputes, sources said. app

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