Dhaka will strongly raise the issue of killing of innocent civilians on the borderlines by the Border Security Force of India as home secretaries of Bangladesh and India will sit here today on a two-day bilateral talks.
The Bangladesh delegation will be led by the home secretary, Safar Raj Hossain, while the Indian side will be headed by the home secretary, VK Duggal, at the meeting, to be held at the State Guest House Meghna.
The BSF has been on the offensive on Bangladeshi citizens one after another without any provocation and border skirmishes claimed around 30 people in the last six months, according to the Bangladesh Rifles. Of them, 19 Bangladeshi nationals were killed in daytime.
Besides, many more Bangladeshis have been injured in BSF offensive, home ministry sources said.
Sources hinted that various contentious issues including security, border fencing, illegal migration from both sides and trans-border crimes would come up for discussion.
The two countries would also discuss the extradition treaty, sources said.
Prior to the meeting, the Indian home secretary would call on the foreign minister, M Morshed Khan.
On Friday, the delegation would visit the Sundarbans before sitting again on Saturday, diplomatic sources said.
The last home secretary-level talks between the two next-door neighbours took place in New Delhi from October 27-28 last year.
Meanwhile, the Indian minister of state for home, Shri S Regupathy, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday said the Indian government had taken several measures to curb ‘illegal infiltration’
These measures include strengthening of the BSF by equipping its personnel with modern and sophisticated equipment/gadgets;
‘State Governments and Union Territories have also been directed to enforce the provisions of Foreigners Act strictly. The government has also regularly taken up the issue of illegal infiltration with the government of Bangladesh at various fora,’ he said in the written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
However, Bangladesh denies the allegation of infiltration as propagated by the Indian side.
