‘Joint Record of Discussions to help reduce border killings’

Director General of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Maj Gen Md Shafeenul Islam has said that the signing of a Joint Record of Discussions (JRD) will help reduce border killings and smuggling.

The DG of BGB said this on Saturday while addressing a joint press conference after the end of the four-day DG level conference between Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and BSF in Dhaka's BGB headquarters.

The DG of BGB said “We have discussed 13 issues including border killing.  Both sides agreed to take effective steps to prevent human trafficking, share real time information for coordinated border management in curbing trans-border crime including smuggling of yaba and other drugs, firearms, and cattle”.

He said “BSF DG has assured me that he would do his best to ensure that we can avoid the loss of human life.”

Both the forces agreed to resume joint patrolling along the borders, which was stopped after both countries were struck by the Covid-19 pandemic. The meeting also decided to increase interaction between the force members.

A 13-member Bangladesh delegation, led by BGB Director General Maj Gen Md Shafeenul Islam, and a six-member Indian delegation, headed by the BSF DG, joined the 50th BGB-BSF DG-level talks.

Earlier, the BGB-BSF talks were postponed on September 13 as the BSF delegation failed to reach Dhaka due to a technical glitch in their aircraft.