Cover Story Vol. 3 Issue No. 33

August 16-31, 2007

Together against terror

India asked Bangladesh to take action against the militants holed up in that country, besides curbing the illegal migration. Bangladesh, however countered India by asking New Delhi to hand over wanted criminals taking shelter in the country. It reiterated its known stand that it would not allow use of its soil for anti-India activities.

The Bangladesh delegation is led by the country’s Home Secretary Mohd Abdul Karim while, the Indian side is headed by Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta.

The Bangladeshi delegation later met the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who also expressed India’s concern at the activities of the Indian insurgent groups. India has sought the extradition of ULFA leader Paresh Baruah and Anup Chetia, besides dismantling of camps operated by the rebels. The meeting with Patil lasted for about half-an-hour.
While the differences persisted, the Bangladeshi delegation appeared a little sympathetic towards India’s position. The two sides felt that wherever there are issues of concern, these should be addressed by each other inpositive and constructive spirit. Both sides expressed the hope that the current round of talks would lead to further strengthening of mutual co-operation, an official spokesman said.

Talks were held in a positive and constructive atmosphere. Various aspects of security, border management and cooperation in police matters were discussed. Both sides expressed commitment to further the cooperation between the two countries, he added.

Bangla nod to floating BOP
After hanging fire for years, Bangladesh has finally given clearance to India to transport its floating Border Outpost (BOP) to Dhubri.

India has noted with appreciation the clearance given by Bangladesh to its pending request to take a floating Border Outpost to Dhubri through Bangladesh, a joint press statement issued at the end of the two-day India-Bangladesh Home Secretary level talks, said.

Union Home Secretary, Madhukar Gupta told newsmen that the two countries also agreed to step up the riverine patrolling. The India has expressed its willingness to supply riverine patrolling vessels to Bangladesh in case such request is made, said the Union Home Secretary.

Dhaka has been putting hurdles in the way of transporting the floating border police outpost to the porous Dhubri district. The Border Security force (BSF) proposed to guard the riverine stretch of the porous Indo-Bangladesh boundary against illegal migration.

Bangladesh's reluctance had prompted Union Home Ministry to toy with the idea of building the floating border outpost at Guwahati and transport it through the Brahmaputra to Dhubri. The proposal, however, was shot down by Mumbai-based Mazgaon Docks Limited (MDL), which was assigned to examine the feasibility of constructing the vessel. The BOP was stationed in the Sunderbans in West Bengal.

A floating border outpost, functions like a police station with barracks that can house as many as 100 personnel.

A standard vessel has an area of 2,400 sq feet, resembling a small ship with facilities for storing communication equipment, records and arms.

Of the total 263-km-long border that Assam shares with Bangladesh, 49 km is riverine, spread over Dhubri and Karimganj.

Home Ministry official said the Dhubri sector was in greater need of the border outpost since it was witnessing illegal migration and smuggling

Dhaka agrees to share intelligence
The Bangladesh Government's perceptible change of attitude has floored India, with the two countries likely to put in place an institutional mechanism to share intelligence on movement of militants and fight terror. The modalities and contour of the mechanism is expected to be finalised later.

The biggest clincher, however, was admission by Bangladesh about presence of militants in their country. They agreed to look for the militants on the basis of information provided by India and extradite them. "They also requested us to do the same with the list of criminals holed up in India," said a top Ministry of Home Affairs official, who took part in the two-day negotiations.

The admission was a marked departure from the past, when Bangladesh even refused to admit the presence of Indian insurgent groups and its leadership in their country, said the official.

There was, however, no word on India's demand for extradition of ULFA leaders like Paresh Barua and Anup Chetia, even as the mechanism of joint secretary level talks has been revived.

The eight round of Home Secretary level talks between India and Bangladesh concluded with the signing of the agreed minutes by Madhukar Gupta and Mohammad Abdul Karim amidst growing bonhomie between the two sides. Gone were the mutual mistrust and the tensions. "We had a very constructive and positive discussion and tried to deliberate all issues across a broad spectrum," said Gupta.

The Home Secretary of Bangladesh brought to us a clear message and they want to move forward on a constructive note, he added.

"Whole range of issues including security related issues and the need for peaceful border management were discussed,' supplemented the Home Secretary of Bangladesh, who led a 12-member delegation.

Gupta said since terrorism is a common threat, the two sides reiterated that the use of the territory of either country would not be allowed for terrorist and criminal activities against the other country and that sustained cooperation and information sharing would benefit both the countries.

Both sides agreed with the necessity of real time exchange of actionable information between the security agencies of the two countries, in addition to the existing mechanisms of information sharing between the BSF and BDR. The modalities of designation of nodal points would be decided separately by mutual consultations, he said.

The two sides have also agreed to initiate swift action on information received about groups and elements and other fugitives of either country taking shelter in the other country, the joint statement said.

India repeated its request to Bangladesh to take deterrent action against Indian Insurgent Groups (IIGs) and their members. India requested for expeditious action on red corner notice (RCN) subjects through enhanced interaction between the Interpol designated points. The Bangladesh delegation noted the request.

This is significant because top leaders like chairman, Arabinda Rajkhowa and Paresh Baruah have red corner alert notices against them. They are in the wanted list of Interpol for their involvement in the killing of Sanjay Ghose.

On its part, India assured all possible assistance, within the law of the land, to the request made by Bangladesh in tracing criminals wanted for criminal activities in that country and who are reportedly taking shelter in Indian territory.

Agreeing on the need to jointly fight terror, India and Bangladesh were all set to revive the mechanism of the Joint Working Group (JWG) at the level of Joint Secretaries in the Ministries of Home Affairs and decided that the meetings could be held at regular intervals alternately in India and Bangladesh, Gupta said.

The meeting also took up the issues of border fencing and India acknowledged the BDR's permission to carry out small development works proposed by the BSF within 150 yards of the border. India requested for an early and positive response on its long pending request to permit construction of the fence within 150 yards of the border to fill the gaps in about 250 places, which would help in effective border management and in checking the movement of criminal elements and illegal migrants.

Both sides expressed satisfaction at the joint visit to a few enclaves and territories under adverse possession on May 29-30. The two sides agreed to hold the next meeting of the joint boundary working groups at an early date.

On the passenger train service between Dhaka and Kolkata, the India requested an early response its request for building a protective structure to sanitize the rail line between zero point and Gede railway station on the Indian side. The Bangladesh side conveyed that India’s request was under consideration and they would revert soon

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