Home minister eyes meet with BGB on border problems

For the second time, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal is going to hold a meeting at the headquarters of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) to identify the problems in the country’s border areas. Already, the home affairs ministry has asked the country’s border force, BGB, to hold meetings with MPs, deputy commissioners (DCs) and other senior officials of law enforcement agencies, say sources in the BGB.

The meeting, fixed on April 4, will suggest ways to resolve the current problems facing people living in the bordering areas, the sources added. The meeting is going to be held in view of the Indian parliamentary elections in seven phases, scheduled from April 11 to May 19 this year, say the sources.

When contacted, a senior officer of the paramilitary force headquarters told The Independent  that the home minister would hold the meeting to identify the problems in the border areas and to find ways to resolve them. “Our main challenge is to stop transnational crimes, including the smuggling of arms and cattle, and prevent all other types of crimes,” he said.

The BGB’s senior officer said that innocent Bangladeshis were being killing by the Border Security Force (BSF) of India, mostly during cattle smuggling. However, cattle smuggling had ebbed over the past few years, leading to a drop in border killings, he added.

He also said the home ministry was likely to ask the local MPs and DCs to adopt awareness building programmes for locals so as to discourage smuggling. Talking to this correspondent, a senior home ministry official said that the home minister had met the MPs of the bordering areas on December 24, 2017 and asked them to identify the problems with the help of the local administration, border force and law enforcement agencies and to send the findings to the home ministry.

“But the authorities concerned are yet to identify the problems of the bordering areas, though more than one year has passed,” the official said.

When contacted, Deputy Commissioner of Satkhira district SM Mostafa Kamal said that the main problems in the border areas were woman and child trafficking as well as the smuggling of various types of drugs through border points from the neighbouring countries.

“We are trying to stop human trafficking and smugglings of drugs in cooperation with the border force and law enforcement agencies,” he added.

“We have taken up an awareness-building programme for the local people to discourage smuggling,” he noted.

About 59,000 BGB members maintain border security along the country’s border with India and Myanmar. Bangladesh and India share a 4,156-km international border, the fifth-longest land border in the world, including 262 km in Assam, 856 km in Tripura, 180 km in Mizoram, 443 km in Meghalaya, and 2,217 km in West Bengal.

Bangladesh has 539 porous border points with India and Myanmar.

The BGB has already introduced a ‘smart border management system’ by installing “state-of-the-art technology” at various border points.

Home minister eyes meet with BGB on border problems

For the second time, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal is going to hold a meeting at the headquarters of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) to identify the problems in the countrys border areas. Already, the home affairs ministry has asked the countrys border force, BGB, to hold meetings with MPs, deputy commissioners (DCs) and other senior officials of law enforcement agencies, say sources in the BGB. The meeting, fixed on April 4, will suggest ways to resolve the current problems facing people living in the bordering areas, the sources added. The meeting is going to be held in view of the Indian parliamentary elections in seven phases, scheduled from April 11 to May 19 this year, say the sources. When contacted, a senior officer of the paramilitary force headquarters told The Independent that the home minister would hold the meeting to identify the problems in the border areas and to find ways to resolve them. Our main challenge is to stop transnational crimes, including the smuggling of arms and cattle, and prevent all other types of crimes, he said. The BGBs senior officer said that innocent Bangladeshis were being killing by the Border Security Force (BSF) of India, mostly during cattle smuggling. However, cattle smuggling had ebbed over the past few years, leading to a drop in border killings, he added. He also said the home ministry was likely to ask the local MPs and DCs to adopt awareness building programmes for locals so as to discourage smuggling. Talking to this correspondent, a senior home ministry official said that the home minister had met the MPs of the bordering areas on December 24, 2017 and asked them to identify the problems with the help of the local administration, border force and law enforcement agencies and to send the findings to the home ministry. But the authorities concerned are yet to identify the problems of the bordering areas, though more than one year has passed, the official said. When contacted, Deputy Commissioner of Satkhira district SM Mostafa Kamal said that the main problems in the border areas were woman and child trafficking as well as the smuggling of various types of drugs through border points from the neighbouring countries. We are trying to stop human trafficking and smugglings of drugs in cooperation with the border force and law enforcement agencies, he added. We have taken up an awareness-building programme for the local people to discourage smuggling, he noted. About 59,000 BGB members maintain border security along the countrys border with India and Myanmar. Bangladesh and India share a 4,156-km international border, the fifth-longest land border in the world, including 262 km in Assam, 856 km in Tripura, 180 km in Mizoram, 443 km in Meghalaya, and 2,217 km in West Bengal. Bangladesh has 539 porous border points with India and Myanmar. The BGB has already introduced a smart border management system by installing state-of-the-art technology at various border points.