NEW DELHI, April 30– India has asked for details of the recent arms seizure in Chittagong even as Bangladesh reiterated its claim about presence of wanted terrorists and criminals in the country. The five-day Border Security Force (BSF) and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) talks that started on an uneasy note yesterday saw both sides engage in claims and counter claims. While the BSF delegation denied the contention of its counterpart, Dhaka appeared reluctant to share details of the arms seizure estimated at about Rs 1,000 crore maintaining that investigations were still on, sources said.
The five-day Director General level talks is slated to conclude on May 3. The 15-member BSF delegation is led by its Director General Ajai Raj Sharma, while the BDR team is headed by its DG, Major General Jahangir. On the table are a number of issues ranging from illegal immigration, cross-border smuggling , operations of camps by North-east underground outfits to cattle smuggling to drugs trafficking. However, the recent seizure of the huge arsenal of weapons from a jetty of Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Limited (CUFL) on April 2 is likely to top the agenda.
The BSF is also seeking to concretise the proposal for joint patrolling of the international border. The BSF proposal was accepted by Bangladesh in principle but later backed out. In the two days of talks it was conveyed to BSF delegation that Dhaka was uneasy about the idea of joint patrolling. In a bid to counter New Delhi’s repeated claims about presence of camps operated by ultras belonging to the North-east including ULFA, NDFB, ATTF, NLFT among others, the BDR has been harping on reports about wanted criminals enjoying a free run of the country, in India. As in the past both sides denied each other‘s claim.
In response to BDR’s claim about wanted criminal taking shelter in places like Kolkata, the BSF in the last meeting in New Delhi assured to verify it. This time BDR cited news report to urge that wanted criminal Mullah Masud was seen at a wedding in Kolkata. On its part BSF has submitted a list of 192 camps being operated by rebels with the exact locations. It also reported to BDR that most of the camps which was located just across the international border were shifted deeper inside Bangladesh after their presence was reported to BDR.
A BDR release issued in Dhaka said that the five-day talks would discuss smuggling, illegal intrusion, killing and abduction of Bangladesh nationals by BSF and Indians, push to bid of Bengali speaking Indian nationals into Bangladesh, infrastructural development, among others.