Bangladesh seeks access from India to battle rebels

Bangladesh has urged India to allow Bangladeshi security forces to enter the Chittagong Hills Tract from Tripura to launch a crackdown on Indian rebels there, a BSF official said Wednesday.

"There was a request from Bangladesh to us for a passage for movement of their security forces besides construction of roads and other basic infrastructures from Tripura's Dhalai district," Inspector General of BSF Sudesh Kumar told journalists.

The Indian government is yet to take a call on the request, he said.

"They (Border Guards Bangladesh) have informed us about their willingness to launch a crackdown against the Indian rebels hiding in Chittagong Hills Tract.

"But the rugged terrain of the CHT (Chittagong Hills Tract) area has dampened their spirit and, therefore, they have sought access to enter that area from Tripura," he said.

Kumar added that there were 39 active camps and hideouts of northeast insurgent groups in CHT in southeast Bangladesh and Moulvibazar and Sylhet districts in northeastern Bangladesh.

"We have shared the locations of these camps and hideouts with the BGB. I must say they have swung into action," the BSF official said.

Four Indian northeastern states -- Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Assam -- share 1,880-km-long border with Bangladesh.

The mountainous terrain, dense forests and other hindrances make the unfenced borders porous and vulnerable, allowing illegal immigrants and intruders cross over without any hurdle.

India is erecting a fence and putting up floodlights along the 4,096-km India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram to check trans-border movement of militants, and to check border crimes.