Dhaka: India and Bangladesh on Saturday signed
a comprehensive border management agreement as Home Minister P
Chidambaram held crucial talks with his counterpart Sahara
Khatun ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh`s visit here in
September.
"We have just signed the agreement -- Border
Management Coordination Plan for a comprehensive and joint
management of all frontier issues," Sahara told a joint news
briefing with Chidambaram after their nearly two-and-half-hour
talks at Bangladesh secretariat here.
The two ministers witnessed the signing of the
agreement between Border Guard Bangladesh`s Director General
Major General Anwar Hossain and his Indian counterpart of
Border Security Force (BSF) Raman Srivastava.
Chidambaram said the deal was expected to resolve all
outstanding frontier issues including combating cross-border
crimes. "The agreement will enhance quality of border
management as well as ensure (cross-border) security."
India and Bangladesh share 4,096 Km border of which
6.1 kilometres is still un-demarcated.
Officials here familiar with the process said the deal
intended to enforce joint frontier vigils from certain border
points against other cross-border crimes like human
trafficking and weapons and drug smuggling.
The two countries had last week concluded a joint
headcount in 162 enclaves on both sides of their borders. Of
this, 111 are Indian territories inside Bangladesh.
The enclaves, or areas locked by territories belonging
to the other side, have been an un-resolved border issue
between the two countries since the partition of the
subcontinent, causing untold difficulties to the people there
in matters of connectivity, power and education.
PTI
