Border crimes increased after use of non-lethal arms

The BSF dismissed the BGB's claims and argued that if the civilians were innocent, why would they come to the border at odd hours of day and night.

"In the four-day meeting between the officials of BSF and BGB, we (BSF) have raised the issue (of increase in border crimes) and they (BGB) assured us to take certain steps to check the increasing crime. BGB officials said they would set up more border outposts (BOPs) and intensify their patrolling along the border," Rawat said.

The Indian side was led by BSF's Assam frontier Inspector General Sudhir Kumar Srivastava in the Shillong meeting.

The BSF officials asked their BGB counterparts that on several occasions unarmed Indian civilians were also killed by the Bangladeshi nationals. "These must be stopped," BSF officials told the BGB representatives.

Four northeastern states -- Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Assam -- share 1,880-km border with Bangladesh. The dense forests, mountainous terrain, unfenced borders and other problems make the area porous and vulnerable.