By IANS,
New Delhi : Security and border management issues as well as ways to enhance cooperation between the law enforcement agencies will figure prominently in the ninth Home Secretary level talks between India and Bangladesh to be held in Dhaka Saturday.
The Indian delegation will be headed by Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta and the Bangladesh delegation by his counterpart Mohammed Abdul Karim.
“These meetings are part of the institutional mechanism set up in 1993 to resolve various issues of mutual concern,” said a home ministry release here.
“Apart from the home secretary level talks, director generals (DG) level meetings between the Border Security Force (BSF) and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) are held twice a year.”
In the run-up to the two-day talks, the DG-level talks between BSF and BDR were held at Dhaka August 20-25, 2008. After the last Home Secretary level talks, the mechanism of the Joint Working Group at the joint secretary level has been revived. The meeting of this group was held in New Delhi in May.
During the talks held last year, both sides expressed security-related concerns including the deportation of militants and political activists who had crossed over to the other side.
At that time both home secretaries also covered border management issues and better coordination between the border forces in the light of incidents of firing by the forces of both sides.
It also covered issues such as round-the-clock access to two Bangladeshi enclaves on the Indian side, the action taken so far to deport militants and crackdown on rebel training camps.
In particular, India is seeking the deportation of top United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) leaders Paresh Barua and Anup Chetia that it believes are operating from Bangladesh.
Dhaka too wants to get back some political leaders who, it feels, have fled to India to avoid corruption and other charges.