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PM's Bangla visit to resolve outstanding issues: BSF

By The Assam Tribune

AGARTALA, March 3 (IANS) - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P. Chidambaram's proposed visit to Bangladesh is expected to resolve several outstanding issues, Border Security Force (BSF) Director General Raman Srivastava said here Thursday.

Relations between India and Bangladesh are very good. These would improve further and many outstanding issues may get resolved during the visit, Srivastava told reporters.

Though no dates have been finalised for the visit, the prime minister and the home minister are expected to visit Bangladesh after the end of the current parliament season around April 21.

Srivastava said: "The week-long director general-level meeting between the BSF and the Bangladesh Rifles (Border Guards of Bangladesh) would be held March 8-13 in New Delhi. The meeting would discuss trans-border issues and the sheltering of Indian terrorists across the border."

"(India's) Relation with Bangladesh at present is very good. There are scopes to further improve neighbourly friendship," the BSF chief said.

During Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India January last year, New Delhi and Dhaka signed several agreements to improve trade and business, communications and people to people contact. The two countries are now implementing these proposals and accords.

India-Bangladesh ties have been on the upswing since the Awami League-led government, headed by Hasina, came to power in 2009.

The killing of Bangladeshis by the BSF on the border is a key issue between Dhaka and New Delhi.

While Bangladesh wants the BSF to exercise restraint in opening fire on the border, the Indian border guards say that they open fire only when criminals and smugglers try to cross the border illegally.

"Instead of using heavy weaponry we are trying to use less-power arms so that illegal entrants, smugglers and trans-border criminals do not get killed," the BSF official said.

Srivastava said that India would fence and install flood lights along the entire India-Bangladesh border to check infiltration.

Five Indian states - West Bengal, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Assam and Tripura - share a 4,095-km border with Bangladesh.

The BSF chief, who arrived in Tripura Wednesday, held meetings with Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and police officials.

According to a BSF official, during the meetings Srivastava stressed the need for strengthening security along the India-Bangladesh border.

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