NEW DELHI: India and Bangladesh will hold a four-day Director General (DG)-level meeting here beginning 16 January, with several issues on the agenda, including fencing and the rise in infiltration attempts, officials said on Wednesday.
The delegation-level talks, led by the DG of the Border Security Force (BSF) from the Indian side and the chief of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) from Bangladesh, mark the first such meeting since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on 5 August 2024. Officials noted that this deliberation had been postponed twice earlier.
The 55th edition of these bi-annual talks will be held from 16 to 19 February, as the agenda has been finalised, they added.
One of the primary topics is expected to be the objections raised by Bangladesh regarding the construction of an "agreed upon" single-row fence along approximately 92 identified patches spanning 95.8 km of the 4,096 km international border between the two nations, sources said.
Last week, the issue of obstruction to the fence construction along the Indian border gained attention after both nations summoned the respective High Commissioners to their national capitals.
Bangladesh expressed "deep concern" over the "activities" of the BSF relating to fence erection and border killings, summoning Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma in Dhaka over the weekend.
In response, India summoned acting Bangladesh High Commissioner Nural Islam in Delhi the following day, asserting that all laid-down protocols were being adhered to during the fence construction.
India also conveyed its expectation that "all earlier understandings will be implemented by Bangladesh and that there will be a cooperative approach to combating cross-border crimes."
The Indian side is also set to highlight the surge in infiltration attempts by Bangladeshi nationals since August last year, linking these incidents to human trafficking and cross-border smuggling.
According to official data, 1,956 Bangladeshi nationals were apprehended by BSF troops between August and December 2024. This five-month period accounted for more than 50 percent of the year’s total apprehensions of Bangladeshi nationals, which stood at 3,474.
The joint record of discussions (JRD), signed by the chiefs of the BSF and the BGB at the conclusion of these talks, will be based on the outcomes of these discussions, officials said.