By IANS,
Dhaka : A meeting of the Bangladesh-India Joint Boundary Working Group (JBWG) will soon be convened to resolve border disputes that cause frequent flare-ups and inconvenience people living on both sides, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni has said.
The talks would proceed in line with the Mujib-Indira Land Boundary Agreement signed in 1974 by the prime ministers of the time, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Indira Gandhi, she told Jatiya Sangsad (parliament) Monday. She didn’t specify a date for the meeting.
Home Minister Sahara Khatun said the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) had killed 68 Bangladeshi nationals since 2009, 14 of them this year alone.
“Efforts to stop killings in border areas are underway. Besides, talks through diplomatic channels are also in progress,” Sahara was quoted as saying by The Daily Star.
BSF and the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) officials had met in New Delhi to discuss border management, including what Bangladesh alleges are “killings” by the BSF personnel.
BSF claims that its men fire in self-defence when people, among them smugglers of drugs, goods, cattle and arms, move around at night, which is prohbited by both sides.
Speaker Abdul Hamid asked the government to make a detailed statement on the issue.
Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) member Jamir Uddin Sircar said the BSF’s intrusion into Bangladesh territory through the Jaintapur border in Sylhet “put our sovereignty at risk”.
He said the BSF, “as per the national and international law, just cannot parade in uninvited”.
Responding to a query, Moni said the Indian government had not informed Bangladesh about the deployment of 50 paramilitary personnel to enhance security at the Indian high commission in Dhaka.
“We don’t have any information about it to share in the parliament. Diplomatic efforts might be made on receiving a report on the matter from the ministry concerned,” she said.