he government has ruled out withdrawal of the camel fleet from the Border Security Force, BSF. Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today that BSF's camel fleet has proved effective in border patrolling in the Rann of Kutch and the desert areas of the border belt in Gujarat and Rajasthan. The number of camels in BSF is 1276 and each one of them has been provided with handlers for patrolling the Western border, he said.

A five-day bi-annual meeting between the Border Security Force, BSF, and Pakistan Rangers(a member of a military unit trained as shock troops for hit-and-run raids), has commenced in New Delhi to sort out border related issues. The 18-member delegation led by Pakistan Rangers Director General (Sindh) Major General Rizwan Akhtar, was received by Border Security Force Chief U K Bansal and other senior officials. According to an official release, the issues which are expected to be discussed during the meeting include unprovoked firing in Jammu and Sialkot Sector and the death of a BSF personnel due to sniper firing, smuggling of Heroin, arms and ammunitions and illegal crossing of Pakistani Nationals to Indian Territory and return of inadvertent border crossers. The issue of apprehension of fishermen and seizure of fishing boats in Gujarat is also likely to be figured during the talks. India may also raise the issue of defence construction close to International Border.
The biannual event which earlier used to take place at Amritsar, Chandigarh and Jalandhar, is taking place in New Delhi for the first time.