Pak, India to intensify border patrolling
Bureau Report

LAHORE—Talks between high officials of Pakistan Rangers and Indian Border Security Forces were held in cordial atmosphere with the two sides agreeing to intensify joint patrolling to check smuggling and share information in this regard besides making tangible progress on all points of agenda.
This was told by DG Pakistan Ranger Sindh, Major General Javed Zia while addressing a joint press conference with DG Punjab, Major General Hussain Mehdi at Wagah border on Saturday evening on return from India where they held talks with their Indian counterparts in Chandi Garh from September 16-19. He said talks were held in friendly atmosphere and both sides presented their view point on different border related issues, making clear progress on all points of agenda.
He said, “We expressed concern over smuggling of chemicals from Indian sides while Indians raised issue of smuggling of heroin. We have told them that there are no heroin manufacturing factories inside Pakistan while the chemical used for it preparation is also smuggled from India.” To effectively combat the issue of smuggling, he  said it has also been decided that the two sides would share informations to be extracted from smugglers. Pushing forward the confidence building measures, India and Pakistan have agreed on a series of measures to stop trans-border crimes including narcotics trafficking by conducting joint patrolling and sharing intelligence. A statement released on Saturday at the end of the four-day talks between officials of the border forces of the two countries said they took stock of the prevailing situation on the border including inadvertent border crossings. “Both sides assured to extend full co-operation and help in amicably and promptly sorting out all issues at the field-commanders level so that civil populations feel secure and their problems are settled,” it said.
The Indian delegation was headed by Additional Director-General of the Border Security Force N P S Aulakh while Dirtector-General of Pak Rangers (Sindh) Javed Zia represented the Pakistani side. Addressing a joint news conference, Aulakh said “fine tuning of existing procedures” was finalised to ensure a coordinated working relationship through enhanced contact at commander and other levels. He said both sides decided to “exercise mutual restraint” and take steps to check trans-border smuggling and crime through “exchange of intelligence” and for handing back of inadvertent border crossers.