Indian Border Security Force and Pakistan Rangers will hold their biannual director general-level talks on issues related to ceasefire violations, infiltration and digging of illegal tunnels along the international border in July in Lahore. Sources indicated a positive movement on NIA’s proposed visit to Pakistan to investigate the Pathankot attack could pave the way for the BSF-Rangers meeting, Times of India said on Friday.
While the forces have mutually agreed to hold the talks between July 21 and 24 at the Rangers’ headquarters in Lahore, a final call on travel will only be taken by the governments of the two countries.
The last such meeting between the Border Security Force and Pakistan Rangers was held in Delhi in September last year.
India had sought the visit of an NIA team to Pakistan after a joint investigation team (JIT) from Pakistan had visited Pathankot early this year. Pakistan has yet to approve the visit.
Officials said though the international border has been “relatively less volatile” in nearly eight months since the last meeting between the two forces compared to the frequent ceasefire violations in Jammu & Kashmir in the early 2015, infiltration and drugs smuggling continue to be a matter of concern.
They said the biannual meeting between the two border guarding forces has been already delayed due to a number of bilateral issues.
The Indian side will also raise issues related to smuggling of arms, contraband items and detection of illegal tunnels running across the international border, the newspaper quoting sources said.
