The Border Security Force and the Border Guard Bangladesh are set to hold director-general-level talks in Delhi from the third week of February for the first time since the regime change in the neighbouring country amid growing border tensions.
Union home ministry sources said the issue of fencing, the latest thorn in bilateral ties, and the rise in infiltration attempts would be among the top agendas at the meet.
The exact dates for the meeting are yet to be finalised, an official said, adding that the talks were twice postponed last year.
"The Indian side is likely to raise concerns over recent objections by BGB personnel to the fencing work undertaken by the BSF along the India-Bangladesh border, particularly in the Bengal sector," said a Union home ministry official.
Sources said the issues related to the objections raised by Bangladesh to the construction of the "agreed upon" single-row fence at about 92 identified patches covering about 95.8km of the overall 4,096km international border between the two neighbours are expected to be taken up during the meeting.
Obstruction to the construction of a fence on this border was underlined last week after India and Bangladesh summoned each other's high commissioners.
The interim government in Dhaka, headed by Muhammad Yunus, had summoned Indian high commissioner Pranay Verma to the office of foreign secretary Md Jashim Uddin on Sunday. Verma was told the BSF’s “unauthorised attempt” to construct barbed-wire fencing and related operational actions had caused “tensions and disturbances” along the border.
The next day, India made it clear to acting Bangladesh high commissioner Nural Islam in Delhi that all laid-down protocols were being followed while constructing the fence as it conveyed its expectation that “all earlier understandings will be implemented by Bangladesh and that there will be a cooperative approach to combating cross-border crimes”.
It was also conveyed to the envoy that India was committed to ensuring a crime-free border through measures such as barbed-wire fencing, border lighting, installation of technical devices and cattle fences, the release said. Among cross-border crimes, the release cited smuggling, the movement of criminals and trafficking.
Sources said the Indian side, during the DG-level border talks, was expected to take up increased instances of infiltration attempts by Bangladeshi nationals since August last year and their link to human trafficking and cross-border smuggling.
According to the data, as many as 1,956 Bangladeshi nationals were apprehended by BSF troops between August and December last year.