Burdwan blast: Bangladesh assures India of effective steps to curb terrorism

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's International Affairs Adviser, Gowher Rizvi, on Wednesday assured India of Dhaka's efforts to curb terrorism, obtain information and share it.

His statement came in the wake of last month's blast in West Bengal's Burdwan District, which borders Bangladesh, in which two suspected militants were killed and another was injured at a house in Khagragarh area.

"Given the fact that Bangladesh and India share 2400 miles of common boundary, and much of these boundaries are very-very porous, it is not uncommon for criminals, terrorists and smugglers to cross the borders to flee from one country to another to take advantage, to destabilize. But in the last five to six years, our government has taken a very tough position on cross-border terrorism," said Rizvi.

According to reports, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) team investigating the Burdwan blast, has recently found out that the interrogation reports of the wives of the two militants killed during the blast, link the incident to the terror outfit Jamaat-e-Islami that operates from Bangladesh.

Rizvi informed that post the latest updates, the Indian team is coming to Dhaka this week. He added that he would brief the media once they share the information.

"The recent discovery doesn't surprise us, but shows that our efforts to curb terrorism, obtain information and share it between the two countries is working very effectively. That is the important thing to remember. Going with past experiences, we are very satisfied with the intelligence which is shared with us, as we consider them to be very helpful to us," Rizvi added.

He further said that Bangladesh has not only got a tremendously close relationship with India, but also has a very special relationship with West Bengal because of the similarity in the kind of people and their language.

Earlier on Saturday, the NIA had announced cash rewards for information leading to the arrest of 12 absconders in connection with the Burdwan blast. A cash reward of Rs. ten lakh each against five absconders, Rs. five lakh each for three accused and Rs. three lakh for the remaining four suspects has been announced by the NIA.

All of them are alleged to be associated with banned terror outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). They were reportedly conspiring to target installations in Bangladesh.