No plan to use drones

India has no plan to deploy drones to patrol the bordering areas with Bangladesh, said the director general of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF).“We have no plans. We neither had any plan, nor will we have any plan in future to deploy any drone or any such vehicle,” Subhash Joshi, DG of BSF, said in reply to a query at a joint press conference of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and BSF after a five-day DG-level discussion beginning on September 14 at the BGB headquarters in Dhaka.Such talks between BGB and BSF are held biannually — once in Bangladesh and once in India.”I do not know from where this [issue] has come. We are also aware that one newspaper carried certain things, in which [there were] certain remarks attributed to me. We had immediately sent a clarification,” Subhash said.On September 9, The Indian Express, an Indian English daily, published a report citing that the country planned to deploy drones to vigil its bordering areas with Bangladesh.When asked repeatedly about the Felani issue by journalists, the BSF chief assured that the Indian judiciary would ensure justice in this matter.A special court, which had been set up for the trial of Bangladeshi nation Felani’s murder by BSF, acquitted a constable of the force of the charge of killing the teenage girl in 2011. Following an outrage in Bangladesh, India has decided to hold a fresh trial.“This is a judicial process, which is going on… Have patience. From our side, I can assure you that justice will be done,” Subhash yesterday said.He avoided responding to a question that India has bordering areas with Pakistan, China and other countries but why only Bangladeshi unarmed people were being killed in BSF shooting.He stressed the importance of the responsibility of both border guarding forces for ensuring that the law is respected.Briefing journalists about the outcome of the talks, BGB DG Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed said Bangladesh and India had expressed concern over the killing and injuring of their nationals and agreed to take all possible measures to bring down the death toll.They also discussed various measures to curb trans-border crimes and prevent the movement of criminals and insurgents, illegal boarder crossing and human trafficking.To prevent smuggling of fake currency and narcotics, including phensedyl, the two forces will co-operate each other by sharing intelligence and interrogation reports, Aziz added.BSF chief Subhash said friendship and cooperation between the two forces had grown immensely through the discussion held in an atmosphere of openness and with positive minds.