A sector commander-level meeting between the Border Guard Bangladesh and the Indian Border Security Force on Wednesday decided that no one except Bangladeshi and Indian farmers would be allowed to enter the 150-yard area from the border pillars.
The meeting was held at the conference room of the Sonamasjid border outpost in Chapainawabganj.
Rajshahi sector BGB commander Colonel Md Imran Ibne A Rouf led the Bangladeshi team while Malda sector BSF DIG Tarun Kumar Gautam represented the BSF side.
BGB 59th Battalion (Rohanpur) commander Lieutenant Colonel Golam Kibria said that they discussed various issues, including the recent incident of clash between Bangladeshi and Indian villagers at the Chowka border, and came up with four key decisions.
鈥楴o one except Bangladeshi and Indian farmers will be allowed to enter within 150 years of the zero line on the border while any issues related to the border will be resolved through discussions and coordination between the BGB and the BSF,鈥� he said.
The meeting also agreed that the media of the two countries would refrain from spreading propaganda or rumour related to the border and cooperation between the two countries鈥� border forces would be ensured to discourage illegal border crossings and drug trafficking by locals.
The decision came after Indian villagers on January 18 clashed with Bangladeshis over harvesting crops on the no man鈥檚 land along the border, leaving three people injured and erupting a fresh tension along the Chowka border in Chapainawabganj.
Earlier on January 8, tension erupted along Chowka border at Shibganj upazila in the district as the BSF began constructing fences along the border despite repeated objections from the BGB.
According to the international law, no permanent structures or fences, except for agricultural activities, can be erected within 150 yards of the border pillars of either country.
Tensions has persisted in the border areas since the final week of December of the past year as the Border Guard Bangladesh and local people protested against India鈥檚 construction of barbed wire fences at five points along the border in Chapainawabganj, Naogaon and Lalmonirhat.
On January 12, the foreign ministry summoned the Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh, Pranay Verma, and expressed concern over the construction of barbed wire fences and protested at the killing of a Bangladeshi national by the Indian BSF.
India has already constructed barbed wire fences along 3,271 kilometres of the 4,156km border, Bangladesh home affairs adviser retired lieutenant general Jahangir Alam Chowdhury recently said.