After surgical strikes across LoC, India and Bangladesh security forces to hold meeting

Hours after the announcement was made that India conducted surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) last night, sources in the Border Security Force (BSF) said that a high-level meeting will be held with the Border Guards Bangladesh in Bengaluru on Thursday. The director generals of both the BSF and the BGB are going to participate in the meeting that will be held in an undisclosed location and discussions on issues related to strengthening of security on both sides of the Indo-Bangla border will be held. Though the meeting may be seen as a strategic move, but according to sources, it is a routine exercise. [caption id=“attachment_3017340” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] “Director General level meetings of both the forces in India and Bangladesh are conducted twice a year. It is a mere co-incidence that this time around the meeting is being held just after the surgical strikes in PoK,” said the source and added that it is a friendly exercise and everything is fine on the Indo-Bangla front. The Public Relations Officer of the BSF, however, denied of any such meeting. Bangladesh has been reeling from a series of terror attacks carried out by homegrown militants outfits like Jama’at ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). The porous Indo-Bangla border that makes transit of terrorists, arms and ammunition easy has been a major concern for both the nations. Only two days ago, Kolkata police nabbed three Bangladeshi nationals connected with the JMB from Assam and West Bengal, who allegedly were planning subversive attacks in the North East and south India. After the Dhaka attacks, the Bangladesh government said that militants connected to the attack could have crossed the border and sneaked into India. The porous Indo-Bangla border, which is seen as a cause of illegal infiltration from Bangladesh to India, has been a major political issue in North East India. Elections are fought and won in Assam on this issue, as many believe that illegal migration from Bangladesh is changing the demographic pattern of the state. In the last Assembly election, the BJP made the issue of illegal infiltration the main election plank to win over Assam. Even in the 2014 general election, illegal infiltration was a major issue raised by Narendra Modi. Bangladesh has also alleged that Pakistan has been infusing terror in the nation as it does in India. Bangladesh also pulled out of Saarc Summit stating, “Repeated interference of a member state in it’s internal affairs,” in an oblique reference to Pakistan. Last year, Bangladesh expelled Pakistani Envoy Mazhar Khan for funding JMB militants. However, Subhendu Bharadwaj, the Public Relations Officer of BSF said, “There is no such meeting today. A delegation from Bangladesh is going to arrive in the first week of next month.”