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International Desk //

There is uncertainty again about the meeting of the Director General level of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and the Indian Border Guard Force BSF. The meeting scheduled for last November was postponed to October. The meeting was supposed to be held in the Indian capital, New Delhi.

This was the first meeting of this level after the change of power in Bangladesh in August. At that time, the Indian media PTI reported that the meeting was postponed due to a change in Bangladesh’s plans. In addition, Dhaka informed that work is underway to quickly fix a date for the discussion at a later time.

Meanwhile, on Friday (December 27), the Hindustan Times reported in a report that the meeting of the BGB and BSF chiefs is unlikely to take place this year. A BSF official informed about the matter told Hindustan Times this information.

The BSF official said that the new date of the meeting has not yet been fixed. Therefore, this meeting will not be held this year. After the meeting was postponed last month, an attempt to reach a mutual understanding in December failed.

It can be said that Dhaka’s slowness in setting a new date indicates that Bangladesh is not agreeing to the BSF’s request.

A BSF official claimed that there was a problem between the BSF and BGB at certain points on the border, but this is a minor issue. The issues that could not be resolved will be raised in the meeting of the two forces. Regular meetings of middle-ranking officers of the two forces are being held at the border. So we think that even if the high-level meeting is slightly postponed, it is not a problem.

According to a report by the Hindustan Times, some civilians who were helping the BSF to operate a motorboat accidentally entered Bangladeshi territory. In that incident, 5 Indians were arrested as armed criminals in Bangladesh. The deadlock between the two sides over this did not end. Meanwhile, BGB members also objected to the construction of barbed wire fences at some points on the border. In addition, the killing of innocent Bangladeshi citizens on the border has always had a strong reaction in Bangladesh.

The last meeting was held in Dhaka in March this year at the top level of the two forces. It was also attended by officials from the ministries of home and foreign affairs, counter-narcotics departments, customs and state agencies related to border management of the two neighboring countries. There is uncertainty about when the meeting will take place.
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