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Vajpayee-Hasina meet
likely next month

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina are likely to hold talks next month in a bid to defuse tension on the Indo-Bangladesh frontier, media reports said in Dhaka Friday.

Sheikh Hasina will make a stopover in New Delhi around May 17 on her return from Brussels, where she is scheduled to attend a United Nations meeting, The Independent and a vernacular Manavjamin said.

Foreign Secretary Syed Muazzem Ali said there was a proposal earlier for Sheikh Hasina to be in New Delhi on her way home from Brussels to inaugurate a Bangladesh chancery in the Indian capital.

Sixteen Border Security Force personnel were killed last week in skirmishes along the border with Assam.

Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad was quoted by the daily as saying that the BDR "is not isolated from their government and the two are one".

He said the BDR retained the "right to act on the judgement in the event of an emergency." He was apparently referring to reports that the BDR had acted independently.

He hoped that the "two prime ministers would work out modalities for durable peace along the border".

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