Minorities faced no attacks in Bangladesh after Sheikh Hasina’s ouster and the claims of such violence were “exaggerated”, the chief of Border Guard Bangladesh said here on Thursday.

Bangladesh authorities have taken all necessary steps for the protection of minorities, the BGB director-general, Major General Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui, added.

Addressing a joint news conference in Delhi with BSF director-general Daljit Singh Chawdhary, Siddiqui said their teams had discussed the border tensions and both sides hoped to resolve the problems soon.

He said the BGB had during the talks objected to India’s fencing of certain stretches of the Bangladesh border.

“The (alleged) attacks on minorities did not take place and the news reports are exaggerated. We provided security to Puja pandals within 8km of the international border during Durga Puja, which was held peacefully,” Siddiqui said.

“We got several requests (from minorities), sometimes without any (cause for) fear or any threat, and even when there was nothing substantial (relating to threats), we provided security.”

However, reports of attacks on minorities were published in the media, “tempting” politicians to comment, Siddiqui said.

This round of talks between the two countries’ border guards was the first since the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina government last August.

Siddiqui said his team had raised “objections” and “flagged a number of cases” relating to fencing carried out by India within 150 yards of the international border, and requested that a “joint inspection” be carried out before such fencing.

He said neither country was allowed to build permanent structures within 150 yards of the border on either side.

“Sometimes, a communication gap (occurs) when fencing takes place within 150 yards. Bangladesh has raised objections that proper consulting and mutual discussion need to be held in this regard. We hope to resolve that in the future so that construction can take place on no-man’s land,” Siddiqui said.

He said a joint inspection would be carried out in such areas.

Both Siddiqui and Chawdhary said they “hope to resolve these issues in the future”.

There was, however, no discussion on changing the 1975 clause on border alignment as this was beyond the scope of these talks, Siddiqui said.

Chawdhary said that infiltration across the 4,096km Bangladesh border – which runs along the boundaries of Bengal, Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram – had reduced substantially since Sheikh Hasina’s downfall.

“Infiltration has gone substantially down and this has been done with the very active help of the BGB. Throughout the crisis (following Hasina’s fall), the BGB stood shoulder-to-shoulder with us and helped us maintain peace and tranquillity at the border,” Chawdhary said.

Sources said the BSF had raised concerns over BGB personnel’s recent objections to the construction of the “agreed upon” single-row fencing at about 92 identified patches covering about 95.8km.