India, Bangladesh border security officers meet in Shillong

India and Bangladesh have been making consistent efforts to strengthen security along the border to prevent smuggling, illegal migration and cross border terrorism.

Recently, the three-day bi-annual Inspector General-level Border Co-ordination meeting between the Border Security Force and Border Guard Bangladesh was held at the headquarters of BSF Meghalaya frontiers in Shillong.

While the Indian delegation was led by the Inspector General of BSF, Assam frontier, Sudhir Kumar Srivastava, the 20-member Bangladesh delegation was headed by Brigadier General Md. Habibul Karim.

During the meeting, the BSF handed over a list of 66 camps of northeast insurgents to the Bangladesh delegation, seeking action against them.

"We have submitted whatever intelligence information we got about the camps, location of the camps. We have not told them the leaders or any name. You must be attending this meeting earlier also. There used to be a huge list of camps. If you collect the data of 5 yrs back and if you collect the data of this time, the number has reduced down to a considerable level because of their taking proactive action against the groups," said Srivastava.

The BSF has also requested for a solution to the dispute regarding the setting up of wire fencing in some parts of the border.

The two sides also discussed other issues like better border management, tackling the smuggling of drugs and fake currency and reducing border crimes.

India shares a 4,096-km-long border with Bangladesh, the longest boundary it has with any of its neighbors.

Officials of both countries have been interacting regularly, and joint efforts are being made to curb insurgency and cross border crimes. (ANI)