NEW DELHI, June 17: The chiefs of Pakistan Rangers and BSF, the border guarding forces of the two countries, will for the first time meet here next month to thrash out a host of issues including recent incidents of firing along the Indo-Pak border.
The five-day Director General (DG)-level talks, beginning July 1, are being held for the first time in Delhi. Earlier venues for talks between the two forces manning key frontiers on their respective sides have been places like Jalandhar, Amritsar and Chandigarh.
The 20-member Border Security Force (BSF) delegation will be led by its Director General U K Bansal while the other side will be headed by Pakistan Rangers chief Major General Rizwan Akhtar.
Both the forces will discuss issues related to the border areas which include trans-border crime, smuggling of fake Indian currency and narcotics with a special focus by the BSF on regular ceasefire violation instances along the International Border (IB).
The meeting will also discuss the issues of the Jammu and Punjab areas which are being dealt by the two forces.
“This is the first time the Pakistan Rangers delegation is coming to Delhi. They will be hosted for talks at the force headquarters here,” a senior BSF official said.
Both the forces have a tradition of holding bi-annual talks, with each side visiting the other country once a year. Regular flag meetings are held by local commanders on a need and emergency basis.
The BSF is also expected to raise the issue of unauthorised constructions along the Indo-Pak border during the talks.
Establishing a hotline between the force commanders will also be discussed at the meet. (PTI)
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