By IANS,
Dhaka : India may get a “thank you” note from Bangladesh for ensuring normalcy on the border when troopers of the latter’s border guards revolted last month, a media report said Monday.
This could happen when the chiefs of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and India’s Border Security Force (BSF) meet in New Delhi next Monday, New Age newspaper said quoting an unnamed senior BDR officer.
Dhaka will discuss border management “in a wider perspective” when the new BDR Director General Mohammed Mainul Hossain meets his Indian counterpart, M.L. Kumawat.
There was hesitation to keep the scheduled annual meeting since Hossain and his officers were engaged in identifying the rebels who killed 76 people, including 56 Bangladesh Army officers, during the Feb 25-26 rebellion.
Hossain has also been quoted as saying that the entire 67,000-strong force would be disbanded and raised afresh. It would be re-branded with a new name and logo.
However, the decision to keep the schedule was made by the Sheikh Hasina government, the newspaper said.
Foreign ministry officials told New Age Sunday that the scheduled meeting of the border officials would be a familiarisation discussion.
“In that top-level meeting of the border guards, the two countries will discuss border management from a wider perspective,” said an official.
Another official said that during the meeting in New Delhi, Bangladesh will express its gratitude to India for its cooperation in maintaining a peaceful border during the revolt in BDR headquarters, the newspaper said.
Media reports said that in the mutiny’s aftermath India sealed its over-4,000-km border with Bangladesh, suspending movement of men and goods. Even those with valid papers were asked to wait till normalcy returned and the BDR personnel, most of who had left their posts, were back on duty.