Bangladesh, India to hold border talks

A long list of unresolved disputes between the two neighbours will be thrashed out when the representatives of the border forces of Bangladesh and India meet in a top-level conference in New Delhi today . An official announcement here yesterday said a 14-member delegation, led by Major-General ALM Fazlur Rahman, director-general of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), had left for the Indian capital to attend a five-day border coordination conference.

On the agenda are implementation of the 1974 Delhi agreement, border demarcation, the exchange of enclaves and illegally occupied land, the Angorpota-Dahgram and Tinbigha corridors and the Muhurirchar issues as well as trafficking in women and children. The illegal intrusion into Bangladesh territory by Indian civilians and the Indian Border Security Force (BSF), the force's kidnapping and killing of Bangladeshis and drug smuggling are among the other tricky issues to be discussed. On the agenda also is reluctance of BSF commanders to respond to the call for flag meetings and the construction and renovation of roads along the border.