BSF, BDR plan to mend fences

Official sources said BDR, in return, had asked the BSF to permit raising of embankments to protect border outposts in riverine areas from flooding. Attempts to do so in the past have led to skirmishes between the two forces. Construction of the fence along the 4,096-km Bangladesh border has been a contentious issue for several years. While Bangladesh maintains that a 150-yard area on either side of the zero line should be left free as per a 1959 agreement, India has been arguing that the fence is meant to check smuggling and curb infiltration and not a defensive structure.

Steps to control smuggling of narcotics and fake currency were also discussed during the talks. The BSF has reiterated its concern over infiltration and the ease with which militant groups operating in the North-East, including ULFA, seem to be crossing over into camps in Bangladesh, a claim the latter has consistently refuted. It has also been pushing for joint patrolling along the border, a concept that the two sides had agreed on in principle.