DHAKA, 30 September 2004 — The director general-level border talks between Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and the Indian Border Security Force (BSF), now going on in Delhi, progressed on positive lines. The issue of coordinated patrolling and peaceful border management dominated the discussions, according to the official BSS news agency.
BDR Director General Maj. Gen. Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, leading the Bangladesh delegation in the three-day talks, said at the end of the day’s session, “We had a very fruitful discussion.”
Gen. Jahangir described the Bangladesh-India international boundary as “a very friendly border.” Talking to reporters he said Bangladesh did not have and would not allow, anti-Indian camps on its soil.
But, he added, this was not discussed either in the talks or when he called on the Indian home minister. “If you can show me camps of Indian insurgents in Bangladesh, we shall destroy them,” he told the Indian press.
The BDR chief said the location of such alleged camps given by the Indian side varied from BDR headquarters to even the Bay of Bengal.
BSF Director General Ajay Raj Sharma, replying to a question, told reporters that the Bangladesh side categorically denied there were any rebel camps in Bangladesh.
To a question whether India had dismantled the training camps from where the Chakma tribal insurgents were carrying out anti-Bangladesh insurgency, he said: “They could not be traced, though we looked for them.” Bangladesh had given India the list of extremist groups allegedly operating from West Bengal and other Indian provinces.
Sharma said at the talks, “It was gratifying to note that there had not been a single serious incident involving the two forces.”
The Bangladesh team also called on Indian Home Secretary Dhirendra Singh and Secretary, Border Management in Indian Home Ministry, Ashoka Kumar Rastoghi. The BSF chief was present during the meetings.
Meanwhile, a court yesterday issued an arrest warrant for a police officer who witnessed the 1975 prison killing of four leaders of Bangladesh’s independence struggle. The warrant triggered yet another delay in the politically sensitive case in which 20 former politicians and army officers face charges.
The court in Dhaka issued a non-bailable warrant for Saifuddin Ahmed, a police officer who investigated the shooting deaths. Ahmed is paralysed and suffers from Parkinson’s disease. Judge Matiur Rahman asked the defense lawyer to submit reports on Oct. 9 and 10 on the capability of the witness to attend the court.
The case has riveted Bangladesh for nearly three decades and the verdict has been repeatedly deferred.
Four close associates of Bangladesh’s first prime minister and president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were shot at close range inside Dhaka Central Jail before dawn on Nov. 3, 1975. The killings took place shortly after Sheikh Mujib, who led Bangladesh’s bloody struggle for independence from Pakistan in 1971, was assassinated in a coup with more than 20 members of his family. The jail killing case was revived in 1996 after Sheikh Mujib’s daughter, Awami League party leader Hasina Wajed, became prime minister. Opponents accused Hasina of waging a vendetta against her late father’s political opponents.
Cop Faces Execution
A third Bangladeshi policeman is due to be executed today for the 1995 rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl, officials said. Constable Amritlal Burman was to be hanged before dawn at a jail in the northwestern town of Rangpur, the officials said. Two of his colleagues, Moinul Haque and Abdus Sattar, were executed earlier this month for the girl’s killing.
