Bangladesh to crackdown on Indian militants

Bangladesh to crackdown on Indian militants
Agartala, April 26 : Bangladesh has assured New Delhi that it would not allow Indian separatists to use its territory to carry out anti-India activities, said an Indian official."The BDR (Bangladesh Rifles) assured us that no Indian separatist would be allowed to operate from their soil," said P.K. Mishra, inspector general of the Border Security Force (BSF) at the Assam-Meghalaya frontier.Mishra was speaking to journalists late Wednesday at Belonia, 120 km south of the Tripura state capital Agartala, after returning from a four-day biannual border coordination meeting at Chittagong in southeast Bangladesh with his BDR counterparts. "We have asked them to take strong action against Indian separatists and destroy 176 camps and hideouts located inside Bangladesh," the BSF commander said. "BDR has launched a crackdown against Indian militants in Bangladesh. They (BDR) had never before been so cooperative and transparent," Mishra said. He headed a 15-member BSF delegation to the meeting with BDR deputy director general S.M. Golam Rabbani leading the Bangladeshi side."A list of 72 wanted Indian insurgent leaders and 79 sympathisers residing in Bangladesh were also handed over to the BDR delegation for taking immediate appropriate action," the BSF official said. Frontier guards of the two countries agreed in the meeting to step up border patrolling and ensure more confidence building measures (CBMs) and share information about insurgents and criminals. Mishra, however, said border fencing works could not be completed in 235 patches along the border with Tripura, Assam, Mizoram and Meghalaya following objection by the BDR."Due to terrain problems and markets and government establishments falling within the 150 yards from the border, fencing had to be constructed close to the border lines. We have convinced the BDR that the fencing is not a defence protection, it is only to curb movement of militants and criminals and check infiltration." Regarding illegal cultivation of Indian land by Bangladeshi nationals at Harinagar and Kinokhal of Silchar in Assam, BDR was requested to instruct Bangladesh farmers not to forcibly enter Indian territory."The leader of the BDR delegation made a mention of killing of unarmed Bangladeshi nationals by BSF and Indian nationals," the official said. BDR also requested the BSF delegation to allow Bangladeshi officers get specialised training in India