The Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) on Saturday asked its Indian counterpart, the Border Security Force (BSF) to stop cattle smuggling as it is “harming” their dairy industry.
“It is a fact that cattle are being smuggled from India to Bangladesh. We have agreed and identified that cattle by itself cannot walk. It is understandable that both countries’ nationals are involved in this smuggling,” BGB’s additional director general M Zahid Hasan told journalists.
“Actually it (cattle smuggling) is harming our economy. These cattle are coming from deep inside India and from west of India. If these cattle doesn’t come from India, then our dairy farmers can grow up and take care of ourselves,” said Hasan, who was in Shillong to take part in the bi-annual BSF-BGB Border Coordination Conference at the head of a 23-member delegation.
“We have requested the BSF not allow Indian nationals to indulge in this racket. Other related issues can be resolved by that.”
“We have worked some concrete plans at the ground level and will carry out joint patrolling during night and day to tackle cattle smuggling besides other trans-border crime along the India-Bangladesh border,” said BSF’s Inspector General in-charge Meghalaya frontier PK Dubey.
Describing India’s allegation of presence of Indian militants in Bangladesh as “perceptions”, Hasan said: “Frankly speaking, there are no militants from India taking shelter in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has the toughest stand on this and zero tolerance for any militant activities. We are very sure that there are no militants operating in Bangladesh.”