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DHAKA, Feb 7 (AFP) - Indian and Bangladeshi border officials were expected to hold talks Friday on their tense border amid a simmering dispute over an Indian drive to deport Bangladeshis.

The border troops will meet near the spot where 213 men, women and children were stranded for a week as both countries refused to accept them as their nationals.

New Delhi said the people were snake-charmers and taken back by Bangladesh on Thursday, while Dhaka contended they were Indians and has said nothing publicly on their fate.

"Tension is continuing, but we are preparing for the meeting on the border between Deputy Director General of Bangladesh Rifles (the BDR border force) Ibrahim Khalil with his Indian counterpart later today (Friday)," BDR official Kazi Shahjahan told AFP by telephone from Lalmonirhat, 256 kilometers (160 miles) northwest of Dhaka.

The town lies across from Coochbehar where the unwanted people stayed in no man's land for a week.

Indian Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, who has been at the forefront of the drive to deport Bangladeshis, said Thursday that an "immediate crisis" had been defused by Dhaka taking back its nationals, but said "the problem of illegal immigration" still needed to be resolved.

While Dhaka has made no official statements since Thursday on the stranded border people, one Bangladeshi border official said it was "absurd" to suggest they entered the country.

"Our troops on this particular border area were on high alert and the question of 213 people sneaking into our side under fog or darkness does not arise," said an official at Lalmonirhat who requested anonymity.

The tension over the border situation appeared to subside late Wednesday when Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha telephoned his Bangladeshi counterpart Morshed Khan and invited him to New Delhi. Media reports said the visit could take place early next week.

India last month announced a drive to expel millions of Bangladeshis it says stay illegally in its territory, saying they pose a security threat.

Bangladesh contends none of its nationals are in India illegally and accuses New Delhi of breaching established rules by trying to force people across the border without due process. 

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