Dhaka, July 30 (bdnews24.com) -- India pledges to put an end to killings of Bangladeshi nationals by its border force along the porous border.
Visiting Indian home minister P Chidambaram says disputes over the border and adversely-held enclaves will be settled during Indian prime minister Manmohon Singh's planned visit in September.
The Indian authorities have already issued strict instructions for "not to fire" under any circumstance while people from Bangladesh or from India try to illegally cross the border, Chidambaram says.
He made the comment Saturday at a joint press conference after a meeting with his counterpart Shahara Khatun at the Home Ministry.
Chidambaram led a 12-strong Indian delegation while a 17-member Bangladeshi delegation led by Shahara attended the meeting.
The message of "not to fire" has been carried down to the BSF guards and after the issuance of instruction, the number of killings has been decreased substantially, he claimed.
For a better border management, the two sides on Saturday signed a joint plan to deal with smuggling and human trafficking along its more than 4000-kilomtre border.
The meeting's outcome was important amid concern by an influential global human rights group that India must investigate killings of Bangladeshi people by its border force along the porous border.
New York-based Human Rights Watch has been pressing for the investigation into the alleged killings for long, and it earlier this week made a renewed call to do so.
Bangladesh has also been demanding for years for not using lethal weapons when people from both sides attempt to cross the border illegally.
When Chidambaram's attention was drawn to the alleged killing of a Bangladeshi national by throwing stones by BSF, Chidambaram denied the allegation.
"I flatly deny it. No body was found. I requested my Bangladesh counterpart to investigate to find (out) the truth," he said.
Home minister Sahara Khatun said Bangladesh always protested when there was a border killing.
When her attention was drawn to that killing, she said, "You have heard what the Indian minister has said."
"The Indian side has expressed positive attitude in this regard and assured that they will work to stop firing along the border," she said.
Chidambaram's visit is crucial ahead of a planned Sept.6-7 visit to Dhaka by Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh. The minister arrived in Dhaka late Friday for a 24-hour official visit.
Saturday's meeting was held following last week's joint headcounts in 162 adversely-held enclaves on both sides of the nations. Of this, 111 are Indian territories inside Bangladesh.
The enclaves are locked by territories belonging to the other side, a contentious issue between the two countries since the partition of the subcontinent.
A Joint Boundary Working Group meeting between the two sides and subsequent home secretary-level discussions earlier this year had agreed to expedite the process of exchanging the enclaves under a 1974 Indira-Mujib deal.
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