This year, for lack of travel documents, more than 300 Bangladeshis were detained while crossing from the Indian side to Bangladesh, Border Guards Chief General Shafeenul Islam said on Sunday.
This year, for lack of travel documents, more than 300 Bangladeshis were detained while crossing from the Indian side to Bangladesh, Border Guards Chief General Shafeenul Islam said on Sunday. After signing a Joint Discussion Record with the Border Security Force (BSF) at the 49th DG-level Border Coordination Conference on 25-30 December, he was addressing a media briefing.
“We frequently arrest people crossing the border, Bangladeshis who came to India accidentally or for work,” Islam replied to a question at the joint press briefing with BSF Director-General Vivek Johri also attending.
In response to the daily pushbacks of “illegal” immigrants from the Indian side to Bangladesh, the BGB DG said: “We frequently apprehend people who illegally cross borders.”
Among the six issues raised by the BSF at the 49th DG-level talks with the BGB are action against the Indian Insurgent Groups (IIGs) and prevention of attacks on BSF troops as well as Indian civilians by Bangladesh criminals.
The BSF undertook joint efforts to prevent trans-border crimes such as cattle smuggling, Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) and gold at the bilateral border coordination conference.
Certain crimes such as illegal migration and trafficking in human beings, breach of the border fence between India and Bangladesh, border breaches and illegal entry, abduction or kidnapping, and illegal crossing by citizens of countries other than Bangladesh have also been reported.
In addition, border infrastructure problems— development of single-row fencing, infrastructure works and building within 150 yards of International Border without prior intimation— were also discussed in talks attended by an 11-member BGB team.
In the conference attended by a 10-member delegation, BSF also raised joint efforts to effectively implement a Comprehensive Border Management Plan through synchronized organized patrols, identifying vulnerable areas and sharing information, and confidence-building steps. The BSF DG, along with senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other law enforcement agencies, took part in the conference that began on Thursday, one day after the Bangladesh delegation arrived in the national capital.
