“Very soon, within a month or two, we will be able to reach a consensus on settling all the border issues,” said Bangladesh Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder at a joint press briefing after the two-day home secretary-level talks at a city hotel.
Both Sikder and his Indian counterpart GK Pillai asserted that the two countries are working hard and would be in a position to resolve the problems before the visit of Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram to be followed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“I fully endorse what my colleague, the home secretary of Bangladesh, has stated about the last two days' discussions,” Pillai told the briefing, adding that the Indian home minister will visit Bangladesh at an earliest possible time.
Apart from 6.5 kilometres of undemarcated border, India has 111 exclaves within Bangladesh while Bangladesh has 51 in India. There are also issues like adversely possessed lands in both the territories and construction of military ware obstacles within 150 yards of international borders.
The two neighbours have border problems since the birth of Bangladesh in 1971. Bangladesh and India signed an agreement in 1974 to manage over 4,000 km of borders. Dhaka immediately ratified the accord but Delhi refrained from doing so.
However, India finally agreed to settle the border issues with Bangladesh during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's tour to India in January 2010.
The Bangladesh home secretary said the enclave problem arose before the birth of Bangladesh. “The handover of enclaves will start soon,” he added.
Mentioning that Bangladesh has excellent relations with India, he said, “We discussed all the issues with a positive approach. The Indian side has responded very positively to all the outstanding problems.”
The home secretary said the much-awaited power network in Dahagram Agorpota had been completed while the Tin Bigha Corridor would soon be open -- 24 hours a day - for its residents.
“Yesterday, the secretary-level meeting agreed to implement the decisions and these will come into effect soon,” he said.
About border killings, Dhaka made a strong demand to devise modalities for border management to stop it.
The home secretary-level meeting termed the killing of a minor Bangladeshi girl Felani very tragic.
Sikder said the Indian side has pledged to take necessary measures to stop killings on the frontiers.
“On the government of India and my behalf, I deeply regret the deaths of Bangladeshi nationals,” GK Pillai told the press briefing, adding that the number of deaths has come down to 31 last year which was 55 in 2009.
“Our effort would be to take all necessary steps so that no death takes place on Indo-Bangla borders and this is our commitment to you,” said Pillai seeking cooperation from the villagers living in border areas and the Bangladesh border guards.
Replying to a question, the Indian home secretary said his government has ordered an independent investigation into the killing of Felani to bring the responsible people to book.
About Bangladesh's proposal of using non-lethal weapons by BSF, Pillai said the Indian border guards have to deal with terrorist elements on the borders
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