BGB rejects ‘misleading’ reports

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has strongly rejected what it described as misleading and speculative reporting surrounding the recently concluded 57th Director General-level border conference between BGB and India’s Border Security Force (BSF).

BGB said that Bangladesh’s concerns on border killings, push-ins and other security issues were firmly presented and formally recorded.

In a statement issued on Monday, BGB said certain individuals and a small number of media outlets had been spreading confusion by publishing analyses and comments based on assumptions and an incomplete understanding of established diplomatic procedures.

According to the BGB statement, the Bangladesh delegation, led by BGB Director General Major General Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui, included not only senior BGB officials but also representatives from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Shipping, the Directorate of Land Records and Surveys, the Joint Rivers Commission and other relevant agencies.

BGB said Bangladesh placed 31 agenda items before the conference, while India presented 21. It stressed that the authoritative record of the discussions and decisions reached during the meeting is the Joint Record of Discussions (JRD), a document signed by the directors general of both border forces.

The paramilitary force said the Bangladesh delegation gave the highest priority to the issues of border killings and alleged push-ins during the talks.

It maintained that Bangladesh’s firm demand for effective measures to stop the deaths of unarmed and innocent Bangladeshi citizens along the frontier, and to bring border killings down to zero, had been properly reflected in the JRD.

BGB further claimed that all of Bangladesh’s concerns, including push-ins, border killings, the construction of illegal infrastructure within 150 yards of the international border, drug smuggling, border security and the activities of armed groups in the hill tracts, were not only discussed but also formally incorporated into the official document.

“Review of the Joint Record of Discussions clearly demonstrates that all concerns and positions raised by BGB were reflected fully, clearly and without any compromise or dilution,” the statement said.

The force also defended a recent meeting between the BGB chief and India’s Home Minister Amit Shah, dismissing suggestions in some media reports that it had been a “secret meeting”.

Describing such claims as “completely baseless and misleading”, BGB said courtesy meetings between the head of a visiting border force and the host country’s home minister or senior officials are a long-established practice during border conferences.

It pointed out that during the 56th border conference held in Dhaka, the BSF Director General met Bangladesh’s Home Affairs Adviser under a similar arrangement.

According to the statement, the meeting with Amit Shah had been scheduled and approved before the delegation travelled to India. BGB said its director general had used the opportunity to firmly convey Bangladesh’s concerns regarding border killings and push-ins.

“Presenting the meeting as something mysterious ignores established diplomatic norms and does not reflect reality,” the statement said.

The border force also suggested that criticism directed at its leadership was aimed at undermining public confidence and damaging morale.

BGB argued that since the political transition of 5 August 2024, it had taken a firm stance under its current leadership against border killings, push-ins, fencing disputes, drug trafficking, human trafficking, instability along the Myanmar frontier and armed groups operating in remote areas of the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

The force claimed these efforts had helped restore public confidence and that attempts to spread misinformation and launch unsubstantiated personal attacks against senior officials amounted to an effort to weaken the organisation.

BGB called for responsible and fact-based journalism on sensitive issues such as border killings, push-ins, transnational crime, narcotics trafficking and border security.

The statement concluded by reaffirming BGB’s commitment to maintaining the highest standards of professionalism, transparency and responsibility in carrying out its duties in the future.