India, Bangladesh Agree to Speed Up Border Fencing

The Home Secretaries of India and Bangladesh met virtually on Saturday and both sides and discussed early completion of pending fencing along the Indo-Bangladesh border as agreed to by the Prime Ministers of the two countries, a statement by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said.

The 19th Home Secretary level talks between India and Bangladesh was held in the backdrop of ‘Mujib Barsho’and 50 years since the Bangladesh Liberation War.

The Indian delegation was led by Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and Bangladesh was led by Senior Secretary, Public Security Division Mostafa Kamal Uddin.

“India and Bangladesh attach highest importance to their bilateral relations. Both Secretaries reiterated their commitment to further expand and strengthen mutual cooperation in the security and border related issues. Both sides reaffirmed not to allow the territory of either country to be used for any activity inimical to each other’s interests,” the statement said.

It added that both sides appreciated the cooperation between the two countries and the action taken to address the menace of terrorism and extremism in an effective manner.

On February 10, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai had informed Rajya Sabha that the total length of the Bangladesh border was 2,126 kilometre of which 319 km cannot be fenced due to topographical constraints.

“The effective functioning of the Coordinated Border Management Plan (CBMP) to control the illegal cross border activities was appreciated by both sides. The holding of the inaugural Police Chiefs’ Dialogue in January, 2021, implementing the decision taken at the Home Minister Level Talks (HMLT) held in August, 2019, was noted with appreciation by both sides. Both sides agreed to further enhance the level of cooperation to prevent the smuggling of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) and contraband,” the statement said.

MHA said Bangladesh appreciated the assistance provided by India in the field of training and capacity building for various security agencies.

“Both sides reviewed the entire gamut of security and border related cooperation and agreed to work closely to fulfill the shared vision of the leadership of the two countries,” MHA said.