Bangladesh, India to Hold Border Talks in Delhi

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Bangladesh and India are set to hold high-level border talks in New Delhi next week, marking the first Director General-level meeting between the two countries’ border forces since the new government assumed office in Dhaka earlier this year.

A delegation from the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), led by Director General Major General Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui, is scheduled to visit India from 8 to 11 June for talks with the Border Security Force (BSF). The Indian delegation will be headed by BSF Director General Praveen Kumar.

A range of border-related issues is expected to dominate the discussions, including border fencing, cross-border crime, illegal crossings, alleged border killings, smuggling and the repatriation of undocumented migrants.

Bangladesh is expected to raise concerns over the deaths of its citizens along the border, an issue that has remained a longstanding point of tension between the two neighbours.

Indian authorities have maintained that border personnel follow a graded response system, using non-lethal measures before resorting to lethal force only in cases involving serious threats.

Security infrastructure, including fencing along vulnerable stretches of the border, single-row fencing projects and concerns over airspace violations such as drone intrusions, are also likely to feature in the talks.

Officials said a joint record of discussions is expected to be signed on 11 June following the conclusion of the meeting.

The last Director General-level border meeting between the two sides was held in Dhaka in August last year.

The Bangladesh-India border spans more than 4,000 kilometres, making it one of the longest international land borders in the world. The two countries have held regular DG-level meetings since the mid-1970s, with the talks becoming a biannual mechanism in 1993 to address border management and security concerns.