Amritsar: The four-day biannual meeting between representatives of the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Pakistan Rangers started here Sunday in this border city of Punjab.
BSF Special Director General (west) PPS Sidhu is heading the Indian delegation that includes senior officials of the paramilitary force from the frontiers of Jammu, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat and the BSF headquarters in New Delhi.
Officials of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) are also participating in the meeting.
"The Pakistani delegation is headed by Director General of Pakistan Rangers (Punjab) Muhammad Yaqub Khan. Officials of the Anti-Narcotics Force and the Survey of Pakistan are also accompanying the delegation. They are scheduled to return to Pakistan March 31 through the joint check-post at Attari," BSF Punjab frontier Deputy Inspector General Jagir Singh said Sunday.
"Issues related to defence construction, firing incidents across the border, drug trafficking, infiltration, smuggling of arms, ammunition and fake currency and other problems pertaining to border security will be discussed during the meeting," he added.
The BSF guards 553-km fenced border with Pakistan that passes through Punjab.
According to the BSF, nearly 15 rocket shells were fired from the Pakistan side in the Amritsar area in June, September (last year) and in January this year.
After every attack, the BSF had lodged a formal protest with Pakistan Rangers but nothing concrete has come out of it till now.
Cases of infiltration and smuggling across the border are also on the rise across the border. In two separate incidents in the last 10 days, the BSF have gunned down three Pakistani intruders and recovered 26 kg of heroin and fake Indian currency with a face value of Rs 83 lakh.
The Pakistani delegation is also scheduled to visit New Delhi, Ajmer and Agra during this visit.
‘No infiltration into India’
Pakistan Rangers Director General (Punjab) Muhammad Yaqub Khan meanwhile reiterated that no smuggling and infiltration was taking place from the Pakistani side into Indian territory.
"The international border with India is effectively protected and well guarded. Presence of heavy security and fencing on Indian side makes infiltration and smuggling difficult," Khan Sunday told reporters.
"We are here for a high-level dialogue with the BSF in connection with border-related issues. We carry out meetings in a congenial atmosphere to discuss sensitive issues like infiltration, smuggling from both the sides and the firing instances," stated Khan.
While talking about the recent instances of firing of rocket shells into Indian territory from Pakistan, Khan said: "We looked into these allegations by the BSF but nothing concrete was traced. No such thing was found in the massive search operation conducted in Pakistan. Even India has no proof that the rockets were fired from our side."
"However, we had lodged strong protest with the BSF when they fired at the pickets of Pakistan Rangers," he pointed out.
IANS
