AGARTALA, Jan 10 � As expected, the insurgency issue dominated the two-day Indo-Bangla joint border meeting after the Indian delegation specially mentioned presence of militant hideouts in Bangladesh�s Khagaricherri district.
District Magistrate of Dhalai district Dr Milind Ramteke raised the matter of presence of insurgents of banned outfit National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) along Indo-Bangladesh border on Bangladesh side in Rangamati district adjacent to Dhalai district in the border meeting.
He said these insurgents kidnap and extort money in the bordering areas of Dhalai district and often take shelter in the deep jungles in Bangladesh.
�Now-a-days these insurgents are attacking patrolling BSF jawans in which two jawans were killed recently�, the DM said in the meeting requesting cooperation of Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) and district administration of Rangamati to prevent such insurgent activities on Bangla soil.
According to joint minutes of the meeting, it was said SP Dhalai shared list of possible locations of such insurgent camps and names and descriptions of some insurgents and their collaborators with the District Administration of Rangamati with request for necessary action and cooperation.
In the meeting, he also informed some bordering village headman of Jhapui and Thangnan in Rangamati district have been extending logistic support and other help to the NLFT and requested to take necessary action in this regard.
In reply, DC, Rangamati district Md Shamsul Arefin said the Bangladesh Government does not harbour of any kind of extremism. �Dhaka is determined to uproot all kind of extremism/extremist/miscreants, if there is any�, he said urging his Indian counterpart to exchange specific information regarding extremists and their camps for taking immediate action.
The Director 54 BGB said, �Whenever we receive any information from the Indian side, prompt action is taken. Regarding probable NLFT camp, we immediately conduct search operations and we did not find any trace of terrorist and claimed camps�.
Besides insurgency, joint patrolling by BSF-BGB, checking or survey of border pillars by BSF-BGB, prevention of trans-border crimes, dual citizenship also came up for discussion in the joint meeting.
�After detailed discussion, delegates of both sides agreed to resolve issues through mutual discussion, cooperation and dialogue. The joint border conference will definitely lead to a better coordination between the two sides�, said a release issued here on Saturday.
