Foreign Secretary Meet: We Expect Practical Steps
Foreign secretaries of India and Bangladesh will meet
in Delhi on 17th of this month. News papers have reported that India will seek
transit facility and greater cooperation in bilateral security from Bangladesh
at the foreign secretary level bilateral talks .Bangladesh on the other hand
will raise unresolved bilateral issues such as demarcation and sharing of water
of common rivers and demarcation of maritime borders between the two
countries."We have discussed transit in different forums. We are interested in
transit and will remain interested," said Indian High Commissioner Pinak Ranjan
Chakravarty following his meeting with Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury
at his office yesterday. Criticizing the politicization of the transit issue,
the Indian envoy told journalists, "It's an economic issue, not political at
all. Look at the rest of the world. I don't understand why this is being made a
political issue in Bangladesh." India's transit access through Bangladesh has
been a sensitive issue in Bangladesh and India has been demanding the facility
for long for a more economically viable access to its seven northeastern
states, also known as the Seven Sisters.
Pinak said India and Bangladesh have some pending
issues, but cooperation in bilateral security is one of the primary concerns.
"There are elements in both the countries who have caused certain security
breaches and there have been bomb blasts," he said adding, "Connectivity [was]
found between organizations here and there. So, we will be seeking greater
cooperation on security issues so that both the countries can fight the menace
of terrorism together."Asked whether he has raised the issue of repatriating
Anu Chetia to the Bangladesh foreign adviser, Pinak said, "We repatriated some
Bangladeshi wanted people hiding in Kolkata. We also need to get some people
back from Bangladesh.""The name you mentioned has been there. But there are
more names what we have given to Bangladesh government and expect that
Bangladesh will catch them and hand them over to us," he added.In response to
the same question, Iftekhar told The Daily Star that he had no discussion over
the Chetia issue with the Indian high commissioner.
"Pending issues like sharing of water and fixing river
borders will be raised at the talks which will initiate talks over the
important issue of maritime demarcation," he said adding that the issue of
cooperation in bilateral security would also be discussed at the talks.While
putting the emphasis on resolving the issues, the Indian envoy said, "We will
also focus on bus and train services as to how to improve the services and
increase frequency.”
India and Bangladesh are neighbors and there is no
escape that we must have good-neighborly relations. In the past relations have
not been always good. India’s attitude to different regime is different .This
should not be. Bangladesh should not be judged by which regime is there in
Bangladesh. India should not be biased to any special party.
Transit is no doubt a touchy issue now because of
India’ failure in the past to consider Bangladesh transit to Nepal and Bhutan
which are true transit issue , not like corridor type transit issue. We feel
this issue will require time to solve and it should be resolved by the people’s
elected government. A package proposal is better, one package for all the
transit issues together of the two countries, another package for all the water
resource issues.As gregards Anup Chetia, the issue is different from the issue
of common criminals, this should be looked into in a different frame work. In
any event we wish progress in the talk.
