Director General (DG) of Border Security Force (BSF) Subhash Joshi on Wednesday said India had never any plan nor they will any in the future to deploy drones along the Indo-Bangla border.
“We have no plan…we’ve neither had any, nor do we have in the future to deploy any drone or any such kind of thing,” Joshi told a joint press conference after the 38th Border Coordination Conference at the BGB headquarters.
He said things have already been clarified by both India and Bangladesh sides. “I don’t know from where it has come.”
Earlier, Dhaka sought explanation from New Delhi about its reported plan to fly unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), popularly known as drones, along the Bangladesh border.
On September 12, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pankaj Saran said deployment of drones along the Indo-Bangla border is a media report, not the Indian government’s decision.
Responding to a question on Felani issue, the BSF DG said, “This is a judicial process which is going on. The competent authority went through the entire proceedings of the trial and ordered a revision. This will be done in due course.”
Asked whether justice will be done, Joshi said the Indian judicial system is very respected allover the world. “I’m sure justice will be done.”
On border killing, he said they have been working to bring down the deaths to zero level. “It’s a joint responsibility. The number of killings and incidents of injury along the border is coming down gradually.”
He said they investigate each incident and law will take its action if anybody is found responsible and guilty. “Our intention is very transparent.”
Earlier, DG of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed and BSF DG Joshi signed the joint record of discussions of the five-day conference held here from September 14 to September 18. Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed read out the written statement of issues both sides agreed on.
The Bangladesh side expressed their deep concern over the issues of killing, injury and beating of Bangladeshi nationals along the border. The Indian side also voiced deep concern over similar incidents.
Both sides agreed that the incidents of death and loss of lives on the border are extremely unfortunate and regrettable, and agreed to take all possible measures to bring down the death toll further.
They observed that the number of such incidents has steadily come down in the last few years.
They said both the border guarding forces must work jointly and further enhance cooperation in eliminating illegal trans-border activities to ensure that no incident takes place in the future.
During the conference, both sides discussed various measurers to curb trans-border crimes and agreed to increase coordinated patrolling on the border to prevent movement of criminals, smugglers and insurgents across international boundary.
Both the DGs also agreed to increase the frequency of meetings between field-level functionaries and to share real time intelligence for curbing trans-border criminal activities.
On security related issues, both sides reiterated their commitment to continue mutual cooperation and decided to adopt multiple channels of communication between the commanders at the root level for quick and timely decisions in case of incidents along the border.
Both sides also agreed to continue close cooperation, including sharing of intelligence and interrogation report on trafficker’s details to prevent smuggling of fake currency and drugs. It was also decided to complete the joint verification of unfenced patches at the earliest.
Source: UNB Connect