BSF officials return after the flag meeting at Tamabil in Bangladesh on Saturday. A Telegraph picture

Nongkhen (Indo-Bangladesh border), July 4: The BSF and the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) held the second round of flag meetings today to ease tension over the incursion by Bangladeshis into this border village of Meghalaya last month.

The meeting, held at the Tamabil outpost of the BDR in Bangladesh, decided to maintain status quo on possession of land and suggested a joint survey of the area by both India and Bangladesh.

The border forces of the two countries had held the first round of flag meetings at Nongkhen on June 28, a day after 300 Bangladeshi civilians intruded into this village in Jaintia Hills and started tilling the land. The meeting, however, remained inconclusive.

After today’s meeting, the commandant of the Dawki-based 121 battalion of the BSF, Ajay Pal, told reporters: “The discussions with the BDR official, Lt Col Jaharul Haque of 21 BDR battalion, was cordial and we decided to maintain the border amicably.

“At the same time, we suggested that the land dispute should be solved politically and there is a need to have joint survey of the disputed land at Nongkhen to settle the matter once and for all,” he added.

The villagers said Bangladeshi authorities and the BDR had come to survey land six days before the incursion took place on June 27.

“The survey by the Bangladeshi authorities may have prompted Bangladeshis to come to our land and plough it,” a villager said.

“We are living in fear, especially at night, as we often notice the movement of BDR close to our area. We appeal to the Centre to initiate security measures,” Joplin Dhar, another villager, said.

She said the villagers were apprehensive even though there was a BSF camp adjacent to the BDR outpost at Nongkhen.

Echoing Dhar, Nirobola Patra, another villager, said she and other villagers had noticed frequent movement of the BDR and Bangladeshi civilians along the border. “This is a matter of concern for us as they may intrude into our land any time,” she added.

The June 27 incursion into Nongkhen is a grim reminder of the Pyrdiwah intrusion, which is just 35km away, by the BDR and Bangladeshis in April 2001.

The BDR had captured the BSF’s Pyrdiwah border outpost in East Khasi Hills, compelling the villagers to flee the area.

Both Pyrdiwah and Nongkhen are areas of adverse possession. These are disputed areas claimed by Bangladesh but under India’s possession. Bangladesh, too, has areas of adverse possession to which India stakes claim.

A BSF official said the Bangladeshi civilians may have wanted to communicate their wish for early settlement of the disputed land through the incursion.