India finishes fence along "sensitive" third of Bangladesh border

CALCUTTA, Nov 12 (AFP) - India has finished a barbed-wire fence along "sensitive" stretches of its border with Bangladesh to prevent the potential infiltration of rebels and illegal immigrants, a military official said Wednesday.

"The sensitive stretches along the 4,894-kilometer (3,034-mile) India-Bangladesh border have been fenced," said S.I.S. Ahmed, a senior official of the Border Security Force deployed on the Bangladesh border.

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"It is nearly 35 percent of the total stretch and the remaining portion will be completed by 2007," Ahmed said.

Indian officials say rebels fighting myriad insurgencies in northeastern India take advantage of the porous border with Bangladesh to set up bases out of reach from Indian troops.

Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani in January announced a drive to deport some three million Bangladeshis he said were in India illegally and could pose a security threat.

Bangladesh denies it allows any anti-Indian rebels to operate on its soil and says there is no illegal emigration of its nationals to India.

"India has already informed Bangladesh that there are 90 terrorist training camps on its soil," Ahmed said.

"We are in constant talks with Bangladesh to shut the terrorist camps on its soil, but the situation remains unchanged," he said.

He said without specifying a number that some Indian villagers had refused to leave their homes for the construction of the border fence.

"Many villagers have moved to the courts challenging their eviction from no man's land," he said.

Ahmed said border troops were installing flood lights in some of the rivers crossing between India and Bangladesh to stop potential infiltrators trying to circumvent the fence.

India and Bangladesh have historically had warm ties, but relations have soured since New Delhi announced the deportation drive and stepped up accusations that rebels operated from the neighbouring country.

Bangladesh has also been angry over India's ambitious multibillion-dollar proposal to link 37 of its rivers, saying the plan would devastate its water supply.

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