Indian Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla will visit Dhaka on 27 February to hold talks with his counterpart Mostafa Kamal Uddin in Bangladesh. The issue of border killings, among other issues, is expected to be on the top of the agenda, reported The Daily Star. 

The visit comes a month before the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s planned visit to Bangladesh on March 26-27. Prior to Modi’s visit, both countries have planned four high-level meetings; three at the secretary level and one at the foreign minister-level. Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is also scheduled to visit Dhaka on 4 March. 

Several bilateral issues will likely come up in the upcoming home secretary-level meet, the most prominent from Bangladesh’s side is the issue of border killings. 

Earlier, the Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh, Vikram Doraiswamy, said that joint border management, increased economic activities, and better border awareness will help both countries to reach zero border killing situation.   

The meeting is part of a regular mechanism between the two countries to address the bilateral issues. The last such meeting was conducted in Delhi last year. Earlier in December last year, the two-nation also held the director-general level talks of their respective border forces.