BSF, BDR exchange list of wanted criminals, terrorists

Anisur Rahman

Dhaka, July 14 (PTI) Indian and Bangladeshi border forces
Tuesday exchanged lists of wanted "criminals and terrorists"
believed to be hiding or detained in each other's territories,
with India's Border Security Force (BSF) demanding that Dhaka
hand over 77 people including three top United Liberation
Front of Asom (ULFA) leaders.

At the end of three-day BSF-BDR Director General-level
talks here, Border Security Force chief M L Kumawat said India
expected Bangladesh to immediately hand over the "Indian
criminals" it has already arrested to manifest a "gesture of
friendship and cooperation".

BSF gave a list of 77 Indian "criminals and terrorists"
some of whom were also wanted under Interpol's red corner
notice, he said at a joint press conference along with his
Bangladesh Rifles counterpart Major General Mainul Islam.

The list contains names of ULFA leaders Arabinda
Rajkhowa, Paresh Barua, Anup Chetia and leaders of other such
insurgent groups, including Jiban Singh of Kamtapur Liberation
Organisation and Ranjit Deb Barma of All Tripura Tiger Force.

The BDR gave a list of 1,227 people, mostly gangsters
and criminals but two of them, Morsalin and Mostakim, were
said to be operatives of Harkatul Jihad Al Islami (HuJI) and
wanted for their role in launching an abortive grenade attack
on incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2004.

The BDR chief said the two absconding Bangladeshis were
now detained in Tihar Jail in Delhi and urged the BSF to take
steps for their extradition along with others.

The BSF chief promised to despatch the BDR list along
with photographs to all border outposts.

"We ended the conference very successfully in a cordial
atmosphere and on the basis of the outcome of the meet, the
two border forces will now be able to discharge their duties
through mutual cooperation and understanding," Islam said.

The chiefs of both the forces said cross-border killings,
particularly of Bangladeshis, largely dominated the talks.

"We are trying to drastically reduce the incidents of
such killings in the frontiers," Kumawat said but added that
most of such incidents occur during night when BSF enforces a
curfew on their side to check cross-border crimes.

Kumawat said Indian nationals were also killed in BSF
firing sometimes and in most of the cases they were found to
be "smugglers or terrorists" who tried cross the borders.

The cases were extensively investigated both by Indian
police and BSF and action taken if any wrongdoing was found on
the part of any BSF soldier, he said. The BDR chief agreed
that the Bangladeshi nationals were needed to be "more
careful" in their movement in the frontline.

The BSF and BDR chiefs said they reached an agreement to
launch "joint and coordinated" patrolling to reduce such
killings as well as to combat cross-border smugglings and
human trafficking with particular focus on women and children.

The meeting was the first such full-fledged top-level
conference of the two border forces since the February BDR
carnage. The BDR chief, however, went to New Delhi two months
ago to meet his BSF counterpart and thank the Indian border
guards for their cooperation during the crisis. PTI AR
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