A top Bangladesh Rifles official has admitted to the presence of insurgent camps in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of the neighbouring country during a high-level meeting with BSF, a senior official claimed.

“This for the first time the DG of BDR admitted that there are camps of Indian insurgents in Khagracherri district of Chittagong Hill Tract from where they operate,” BSF IG, Tripura frontier, J A Khan said.

Khan was briefing reporters about the five-day BSF-BDR Director General-level talks which concluded on October 30 in Dhaka.

However, the BDR DG denied reports of insurgent camps in places other than Khagracherri, Khan said.

The admission by the BDR official about camps in Khagracherri confirmed India’s long standing claim that the insurgents of the North Eastern region are using Bangladesh’s territory to operate, he said.

Lauding the “welcome attitude” of BDR to solve pending issues, the IG said all development projects near the border except the projects referred to the Joint River Commission (JRC) were discussed.

Both sides handed over lists of wanted persons of their countries having taken shelter in the neighbouring country and agreed to hand them over to the respective authorities after arrest, the BSF IG said.

He said BSF and BDR were conducting joint patrolling in the border areas and sharing information regarding movement of smugglers which was yielding good results in containing border crime.

Khan asserted there are 51 camps of insurgents from Tripura spread over Hobiganj, Moulavibazar, Khagaracherri, Rangamati and Sylhet districts of Bangladesh.

The outlawed National Liberation Front of Tripura and All Tripura Tiger Force have safe shelters in Dhaka and Chittagong, the BSF official said.

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