Border guards of India, B’desh discuss Rohingya crisis

Agartala: The “security concerns” over the Rohingya influx were among the many issues discussed on the last day of the four-day conference between top officials of border guarding forces of Bangladesh and India.
At the biannual conference that concluded in Agartala on Tuesday, officials of the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) pledged to maintain peace through effective coordination.
Talking to the press at the BSF frontier near here, Md. Zahid Hasan, the Additional Director General of BGB, said the two sides discussed ways to control border crimes, including infiltration of Rohingya refugees.
He also asserted that the refugees from Myanmar have exerted economic pressure on Bangladesh, but they did not pose any threat.
The claim was, however, contested by BSF Inspector General (Tripura Frontier) H K Lohia, who said the “threat perception” from Rohingya refugees should not be ruled out entirely.
Hasan, while talking at the press meet, said, Bangladesh had taken measures to control Rohingya movement. “The Rohingya refuges from Myanmar are not allowed to go outside their camps in Bangladesh. We have our security systems in place,” he added.
The official also said the country had been hosting over 1 million Rohingya refugees. “We have our limitations and capabilities. We are managing over 1 million Rohingya refugees. We feel they have exerted socio-economic pressure on the country, but there is no terror threat from them,” Hasan said. (PTI)