The Hindu – India, Bangladesh to resume talks on Teesta Treaty

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, 10 February 2012. The treaty was put on hold after West Bengal CM protested against its provisions.

India and Bangladesh will take the first step towards revisiting the proposed Teesta river treaty when officials exchange river flow data at a technical meeting of the inter-governmental Joint Rivers Commission in Kolkata on Friday.

India had put the treaty on hold after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, unhappy over the treaty’s provisions, pulled out of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh delegation to Dhaka last year.

Official sources here said the West Bengal government has been taken on board this time, which Ms. Banerjee’s aides had alleged was not the case when the Teesta Treaty was finalised. “The involvement of the West Bengal government is of paramount concern as far as the Government of India is concerned,” said the sources. In case of Teesta, both sides are also thinking of involving Sikkim, the uppermost riparian State.

“Essentially we are going ahead with different elements of reaching an agreement. The issue is not dormant,” added the sources.

While agreeing to put off the signing of the Teesta Treaty, Dhaka had asked New Delhi to ensure that the agreement would be examined after some time. An agreement is expected to pave the way for the signing of a similar agreement on the Feni river and five minor ones — Dudh Kumar, Manu, Khowai, Gomti and Muhuri.

The sources said West Bengal or any of the other State through which over 50 rivers flow into Bangladesh will be kept in the loop while signing water sharing agreements. The States were briefed and their advice taken during negotiations on a protocol on land boundary that was signed during Dr. Singh’s September 2011 visit to Dhaka.

In fact, senior officials from the Foreign Office here had travelled twice to Kolkata to brief the State government during negotiations on the demarcation of the entire land boundary and the status of enclaves and adversely possessed areas.

The Centre had also obtained the written consent of States and kept its negotiating brief within the parameters of their advice, especially from the West Bengal government, on taking “pragmatic steps”, which meant retaining the status quo, on enclaves and exclaves. “We had gone along with the West Bengal government’s desire to use Sui River for demarcation of the South Berubari sector,” said the sources.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2876246.ece

The Asian Age – Fake notes come via Pakistani diplomatic bag

Rajnish Sharma

New Delhi, 12 January 2012. The National Investigation Agency and other outfits have established that the network running India’s biggest fake currency racket is being operated with the aid of officials at Pakistan’s high commission in Dhaka.

Classified reports accessed by this newspaper show high commission staff in Dhaka are using diplomatic bags to transport high-quality fake Indian currency from Karachi to Bangladesh.

Using both technical and human intelligence sources, the NIA has confirmed that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence was printing fine-quality fake Indian currency notes at a highsecurity press at Karachi’s Maler Cantonment. This is then airlifted to Bangladesh via diplomatic bags to bypass any inspection.

Indian intelligence even mounted surveillance on some airlines frequently used by the mission staff. Some consignments are routed through the Pakistani embassy in Kathmandu using similar a modus operandi.

Once in Bangladesh, the fake currency is smuggled into India through the porous Indo-Bangladesh border, with Malda in West Bengal being a major hub.

In a massive operation across 12 states, the NIA has arrested 13 persons and seized a huge quantity of fake currency.

It is suspected the entire network is run by 30 people.

“The ISI is printing the fake Indian currency at four presses — in Karachi, Quetta, Lahore and Peshawar. But Maler Cantonment is the most sophisticated, where currency notes are of very good quality with a proper security thread and optically variable ink,” a senior official said.

The sources confirmed Hyderabad is a key transit point for smuggling the fake currency into South India: four arrests were from that city.

http://www.asianage.com/india/fake-notes-come-pak-diplomatic-bag-975

The Tribune – Sheikh Hasina urges India to be liberal in resolving water issues

Bijay Sankar Bora, Tribune News Service

Agartala, January 11. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed today urged the Government of “vast” India to be liberal in the efforts to resolve water issues between the two countries as well as to remove the prevailing bilateral trade imbalance.

Addressing the India-Bangladesh conclave at Pragna Bhawan here, Hasina, who arrived this afternoon to a red carpet welcome, said “Improved bilateral trade relations hold the key to remove poverty, the common problem of both the countries.

“We need peace in the region for trade to flourish across the borders and Bangladesh will not tolerate any act of terror and insurgency in the region.”

She added, “The stage has been set for the resolution of many issues between the two countries including those related to demarcation of the border in the wake of my earlier visit to India and the visit of Indian Prime Minister to Bangladesh last year. We expect our vast neighbour India to adopt a liberal approach in resolving the water issues.”

She said the trade imbalance between the countries was in favour of India. “Bangladesh imports goods worth about $4.5 billion from India every year compared to Indian import from Bangladesh worth about $521 million.

“There is, of course, need for political cooperation between the two countries for bilateral trade to flourish. Now that India and Bangladesh are enjoying close political ties, industry and business communities from both the countries need to exploit it to their advantage.”

Calling upon Indian businessmen to invest more in various sectors like power, telecommunication, textiles, health care etc, Hasina, at the same time, appealed to Bangladesh industry captains to improve their output to make inroads into the vast Indian market at this juncture when the Government of India was opening it up for them.

Earlier, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, who accompanied Hasina, lauded the recent statement by Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram about Government of India’s intention to accord most-favoured-nation status to Bangladesh in trade and commerce.

Union Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal, who was here to welcome Hasina, said India was keen to help Bangladesh in skill development of its youth.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120112/main5.htm

The Asian Age – Hasina visits Tripura on Wednesday to commemorate history

Agartala, 10 January 2012. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina makes a historic border crossing here on Wednesday with a 100-member delegation to commemorate the northeast Indian state’s role in her nation’s liberation.

She will be accompanied by her Foreign Minister Dipu Moni and a delegation comprising traders, prominent leaders, intellectuals and journalists during her two-day maiden visit to the state.

The Tripura Central University will confer an honorary doctorate (honoris causa) to Hasina on January 12 during the university’s ninth convocation. The Tripura government will host a huge civic reception for Hasina at the famous Assam Rifles ground.

According to historian and writer Bikach Chowdhury, Tripura had six to seven camps under four different sectors from where the ‘muktijoddhas’ (freedom fighters) fought the Pakistani forces in the nine-month-long war in 1971 that led to the creation of Bangladesh from East Pakistan.

“A large number of Tripura’s youths, politicians, leaders and other citizens had helped the muktijoddhas in numerous ways to achieve their goal. In fact, Tripura was the ‘labour room’ of the Bangladesh liberation war,” Chowdhury told the media, adding these could have influenced Hasina’s decision to visit.

Political analyst and columnist Gautam Das recalled: “During the war, to evade Pakistani forces’ barbaric atrocities, over one crore (10 million) Bangladeshi men, women and children took shelter in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya.”

“Over 1,600,000 Bangladeshis – a number larger than the state’s then total population of 1,500,000 – had taken shelter in Tripura alone,” he said.

Das, who has personal experience of the 1971 war, said veteran communist leaders Jyoti Basu and Nripen Chakraborty had played a key role in providing relief to Bangladeshi refugees and demanding Indian recognition to Bangladesh.

“Hasina’s illustrious father and architect of Bangladesh’s independence, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, had become more famous following the Agartala conspiracy case. This also may be the reason behind Hasina’s visit to Agartala,” said Tripura Finance Minister Badal Chowdhury, who had done his primary education in the erstwhile east Pakistan, now Bangladesh.

The case related to charges of sedition, slapped by the then Pakistan government against Sheikh Mujib and 34 other people. Filed in January 6, 1968, it charged Sheikh Mujib and others in conspiring with India against the stability of Pakistan.

“Bangabandhu, as he was known, Sheikh Mujibur Rehman was not involved in the case though he was named as the ‘first accused’. In fact, when the Agartala conspiracy case was initiated, Sheikh Mujib had already been in prison in Dhaka along with many others,” Das said.

Chowdhury said the Tripura government has been building an ambitious edifice and a park in southern Tripura in memory of Indian soldiers and Bangladeshi freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives during the 1971 war.

“The park being built at Chottakhola, a border village, 130 km from Agartala, at a cost of Rs.2.3 crore, will have a statue of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,” Chowdhury told the media.

Hasina’s visit was eagerly sought by the state, with Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, Governor D.Y. Patil and the Tripura Central University vice chancellor Arunoday Saha inviting her to visit during separate visits to Dhaka.

“Hasina at once accepted our invitations and agreed to visit Tripura,” Sarkar had said, on his return. (IANS)

http://www.asianage.com/india/hasina-visits-tripura-wednesday-commemorate-history-582

BBC News – Saudi beheading of eight Bangladesh workers condemned

By Anbarasan Ethirajan

Dhaka, 8 October 2011. The public execution of eight Bangladeshi migrant workers in Saudi Arabia has been condemned by a leading human rights group in Bangladesh, Ain O Salish Kendra.

The workers were beheaded in public in Riyadh on Friday after they were found guilty of killing an Egyptian in 2007.

Three other Bangladeshis were sentenced to prison terms and flogging in the same case.

More than two million Bangladeshis work in Saudi Arabia.

The human rights group says the execution of Bangladeshi workers should be condemned by anyone who cares for humanity.

It says that although the executions were carried out in accordance with Saudi law, the public beheading of the workers will cause immense suffering and trauma for their family members back at home.

It points out that often foreign workers don’t understand Saudi court proceedings in Arabic and they rarely get lawyers to represent their case.

It has urged the Bangladeshi government to offer legal assistance to migrant workers facing trial.

The money sent home by migrant workers in Bangladesh play a crucial role in the country’s economy.

Amnesty International says since the end of the holy month of Ramadan, executions have resumed in Saudi Arabia at an alarming rate.

The latest beheadings bring the total number of executions in the country this year to 58, more than twice the figure for the whole of 2010.

It says many of those executed in recent years have been foreign nationals, mostly migrant workers from developing countries.

It has called on the Saudi government for an immediate moratorium on executions and to commute all death sentences.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15228607

The Asian Age – Centre is hopeful of Teesta solution

Parul Chandra, Asian Age Corespondent

New Delhi, 20 September 2011. The Centre is hoping that the proposed Teesta Waters Treaty with Bangladesh may still happen once the “small technical misunderstanding” between it and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is sorted out. The proposed treaty, which had been billed as one of the high-points of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent Dhaka visit, could not be signed leading to considerable disappointment on both sides.

Officials here admitted that “there was a little bit of technical misunderstanding over the wording of the agreement”.

They added, “We assumed that West Bengal had agreed”.

However, with Didi clearly not on board, the Centre is hopeful that it will be able to bring her around once this “misunderstanding” has been cleared.

The treaty’s signing fell through after the Trinamul Congress leader dropped out of the PM-led delegation to Dhaka at the 9th hour earlier this month. Ms Banerjee was apparently miffed that Bangladesh would be getting more than the water share she had acceded to under the proposed pact.

Her last-minute decision not only scuppered the proposed Teesta agreement but also left New Delhi red-faced and Dhaka considerably unhappy.

The bone of contention between the two nations, expectedly, is the quantity of water they are willing to share with each other. While Bangladesh wants 75 per cent of the Teesta waters, Bengal wants the sharing to be in the 50:50 ratio.

However, water experts note that the treaty is really “academic in nature” as there is no way that India can hold back the Teesta waters beyond a certain quantity as north Bengal would then get flooded. They also note that north Bengal can use only about 30 to 40 per cent of the Teesta waters as it is still to get the extensive canals system which was envisaged under the Teesta Barrage Project for making this water available to a larger area.

Indeed, the project, has been bedevilled by delays ever since it was approved in 1976. One of the reasons for the delay are land acquisition issues, said experts.

The Centre finally decided to declare the project a “national project” in 2009 which entails that it will shoulder 90 per cent of the costs with the state government chipping in with the remaining 10 per cent.

Expected to cost `69.77 crores when approved, the last project cost as approved by the Planning Commission in December 2010 had spiralled to roughly `2,988 crores.

http://www.asianage.com/india/centre-hopeful-teesta-solution-171

The Asian Age – Clues lead to Bangla Desh

Namrata Biji Ahuja and Rajnish Sharma
Asian Age Correspondents

New Delhi, 10 September 2011. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday asked home minister P. Chidambaram and law minister Salman Khurshid to call on Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia and take “urgent steps” to strengthen security arrangements at the Supreme Court. Wednesday’s attack was followed by four terror emails, one purportedly from the Bangladesh-based HuJI warning of more attacks at high courts and the Supreme Court.

Mr Chidambaram earlier on Friday said there were “promising” but not “very conclusive leads” in the case and that foreign agencies have been roped in. The fourth email surfaced Friday from Indian Mujahideen’s “Chotoo” warning of a major terror attack in Ahmedabad.

The Delhi police had received the third email, apparently from the IM, Thursday evening. The sender had identified himself as Ali Saed El-Hoorie and sent the mail from the ID kill.India@yahoo.com. “This is to inform you that the India Mujahideen claims the terror attack on Delhi High Court. I just want you to pass a message to the Indian Government that next blast will be so cruel that you people won’t be able to forget it for decade (sic),” the email read. The server of this email was reportedly traced to Moscow even though investigating agencies have sought help from Yahoo!.

Friday’s email, while warning of an attack in Ahmedabad, read: “IM has planned the attack carefully. It is impossible for the Delhi police and NIA to trace the origin of the mails.” It cautioned: “In Ahmedabad will target a crowded place and the police will find it difficult to crack it.”

In what is viewed as a positive lead, investigators are probing two calls made on the evening of the blast from two different places in Uttar Pradesh to Bangladesh. Highly placed sources said they have managed to track calls made from Pilkhuwa and Azamgarh in UP to Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong in Bangladesh. Both these calls were made from a PCO between 5 pm and 6 pm on the day of the blast.

Both Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar have Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI) training camps and it is in these camps that some key IM members are said to have taken refuge. The intelligence agencies are now trying to ascertain the number of incoming and outgoing calls made from two Bangladesh numbers. The IB has constituted three different teams to assist the National Investigation Agency. One team is working exclusively on this particular angle with assistance from the UP ATS.

http://www.asianage.com/india/clues-lead-bangla-136

The Asian Age – PM: I consulted Mamata on Teesta deal

Sanjay Basak (On board Air India one), Asian Age Correspondent

8 September 2011. Appearing upset at the failure of the Teesta accord, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday revealed details of his consultations with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and how she changed her stand at the last moment.

Ms Banerjee’s claims that she was not taken into confidence while finalising the final Teesta accord was subtly refuted by Dr Singh, who made it clear he was personally in touch with Ms Banerjee. He said national security adviser Shivshankar Menon had gone to Dhaka to finalise the accord only after getting her consent. “I was in touch with her for quite some time, and then sent Menon to seek guidance from her and consult her. It was over a month back.” He added “all technical details were sorted out” in the talks between Mr Menon and Ms Banerjee.

At the last CCPA meeting, Trinamul Congress minister Dinesh Trivedi “suddenly raised some objections for the first time”. The PM again sent Mr Menon to consult her, only after which he left for Dhaka to put the final touches to the deal. However, leaving scope for a possible misunderstanding in communication, the PM said: “I don’t know what the chief minister said, and what Menon understood, and then he flew to Dhaka.”

Despite initial assurances, Ms Banerjee said “because of some other factors she (Mamata) would not accompany me.

Later I knew what the reason was,” Dr Singh added.

The PM, however, reiterated “Mamata Banerjee continues to be an important leader, and we will continue to work very closely with her.” He added that “nothing will be done against the interest of West Bengal”. Dr Singh also referred to the “great contribution” the late Jyoti Basu had made to the 1996 Indo-Bangladesh Ganga Water Treaty.

http://www.asianage.com/india/pm-i-consulted-mamata-teesta-deal-724

The Hindu – Border row with Bangladesh resolved but water gap remains

In the midst of bitter Teesta row, fate of disputed lands left behind by history is settled

Praveen Swami

Dhaka, September 6, 2011. In the midst of a summit marred by an acrimonious, eleventh-hour collapse of a critical water-sharing agreement, India and Bangladesh have succeeded in demarcating their land borders — a long running source of friction between the two countries, and a nightmare for the estimated 200,000 people who have been trapped in a citizenship limbo.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Bangladesh counterpart, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, presided over the signing of a new land border agreement, which promises to end the bitter — and sometimes bloody — dispute that cast a dark shadow over the relationship between their countries for more than three decades.

The two leaders also signed a vision statement laying out a long-term roadmap for transforming the often-troubled relationship between India and Bangladesh. In addition, India agreed to allow duty-free imports of 46 lines of ready-made textiles from Bangladesh, which is expected to address its skewed balance of trade.

“This is a historic moment in our relationship,” Sheikh Hasina told journalists.

Bloody border

Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, founding president of Bangladesh and Sheikh Hasina’s father, agreed in 1974 to demarcate the border between the two countries. Later, the two governments arrived at shared maps of 4,096 km — but disputed enclaves left 6.5 km unresolved.

India has 111 enclaves, spread over 17,158 acres, in Bangladesh, with an estimated 150,000 residents; Bangladesh has 51 enclaves, covering 7,110 acres inside India, with a population of about 50,000. In addition, 38 patches of Indian territory spread over 3,000 acres are in the possession of Bangladesh, while some 50 patches of Bangladesh territory measuring about 3,345 acres are held by India.

Legacies, historians say, of lands put up as stakes in chess-games between the Rajas of Cooch Behar and Rangpur in the 18th century, these territories were not accounted for at the time of the partition of India. They thus became enclaves when the princely states joined the new countries.

The enclaves have often been sources of dispute. Last October, for example, some 200 homes in the enclave of Garati were set on fire by a mob. In 2001, friction over the enclave of Pyrdiwah pushed bilateral relations to a dramatic low after 15 Border Security Force personnel were killed and their bodies mutilated.

Bangladeshi diplomatic sources say the negotiations in the run-up to Tuesday’s summit were hard-fought, with Dhaka insisting that the exchange of lands in adverse possession as well as enclaves be simultaneous. New Delhi’s negotiators, the sources said, initially insisted on a deadline only for enclaves, but later conceded Dhaka’s claims.

Water dispute still hot

Even though both Prime Ministers said they were happy with their meeting, Bangladeshi officials in private made clear their unhappiness with New Delhi’s failure to deliver on a promised agreement on sharing the waters of the Teesta river — a critical issue for Sheikh Hasina, who has come under intense domestic pressure for making better relations with India a keystone of her government.

New Delhi had agreed to a deal, which would have given Bangladesh 48 per cent of the Teesta’s waters, setting a precedent that would have helped resolve pending disputes over 53 other rivers, including the Feni.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, rejected the deal, and cancelled her plans to travel with Dr. Singh to Bangladesh, saying the agreement would hurt farmers in the State.

Newspapers have said Ms. Banerjee believes the agreement will grant Bangladesh upwards of 33,000 cubic feet per second, or cusecs, of water each year instead of some 25,000 cusecs she had agreed to in earlier discussions.

The Centre, however, says Ms. Banerjee was briefed on the discussions. “No actual figures on river flow were to be fixed at this stage,” a top Indian government official told The Hindu, “because the two countries do not yet have agreed figures. The agreement was only interim, and would have established principles and a joint mechanism to administer them, not a final settlement.”

Bangladeshi officials told The Hindu that they were unaware that the deal was off until Monday, and expressed anger at what they described as a “let-down.”

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2430051.ece?homepage=true  

The Asian Age – PM leaves on two-day visit to Bangladesh

New Delhi, 6 September 2011. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today left on a two-day visit to Bangladesh that is expected to put the bumpy bilateral ties in a new trajectory through signing of deals in a range of sectors including extradition of sentenced persons, connectivity, power, exchange of enclaves and border management.

However, the visit has been clouded by the uncertainty over the signing of an accord on sharing of waters of Teesta River following strong reservations expressed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who pulled out of the visit.

Diplomatic sources said the two countries are also considering signing of a long-term framework agreement for forging close bilateral relations.

Bangladesh and India had signed a 25-year Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Peace on March 19, 1972. The two governments, however, declined to renegotiate or renew the treaty when it expired in 1997. The framework of agreement, the sources said, will provide a structure, and identify priorities of the relationship.

Singh had, in a statement on the eve of his departure for Dhaka, outlined his agenda in Bangladesh - security, boundary issues, water resources, power connectivity, improvement of border infrastructure, trade facilitation and economic cooperation – and said efforts would be made to sustain and build upon the “positive momentum”.

During his visit, Singh will hold talks with his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina, call on President Zillur Rahman and hold meetings with opposition leaders Begum Khaleda Zia and Jatiya Party chief Hussain Muhammed Ershad, the former military dictator.

Agreements on land boundary, water resources, market access and power purchase are crucial for Bangladesh while transit and security are prime concerns of India.

Giving security cooperation a leg-up, an extradition pact is likely to be inked by the two sides in the presence of Singh and Hasina after their talks in Dhaka tomorrow. Top ULFA leader Anup Chetia, now in Bangladesh after having served out his sentence, could be the first to sent back to India under the new accord.

The two countries are likely to sign agreements, protocols, and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) on withdrawal of water from Feni River by India for a drinking water project and a 20-year agreement on purchase of 250 megawatt (MW) of power by Bangladesh from India at a preferential rate.

Bangladesh might purchase another 250 MW power at the international market rate. The two countries are likely to sign a package protocol under the 1974 Mujib-Indira Land Boundary Agreement which will deal with five legacy issues – exchange of enclaves and adversely possessed land, demarcation of 6.5 kms of un-demarcated border, allowing Bangladeshis to use “Tin Bigha Corridor” for 24 hours, and finalisation of a strip map.

A likely MoU on trade liberalisation will allow duty-free entry of several of the 61 Bangladeshi products, most of them garments, to India. This will be signed under the Trade Agreement between the two countries.

The maiden bilateral visit by Singh – and the first by an Indian Prime Minister in 12 years - aims at consolidating the process set in motion during the landmark visit of Hasina to India in January, 2010, to craft a new paradigm relations, said Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai ahead of the visit.

In a statement prior to his departure for Dhaka, the Prime Minister said India’s partnership with Bangladesh was important for the stability and prosperity of northeastern states. Significantly, Singh will be accompanied by chief ministers of four northeastern states – Assam, Tripura, Meghayala and Mizoram – in his trip to Dhaka.

A protocol on Protection of Royal Bengal Tiger in the Sundarbans is also likely to be inked. Besides, the two countries might sign an MoU on Preservation of Biodiversity in the Sundarbans. Bangladesh and India are also likely to sign MoUs on cooperation on renewable energy, telecast of programmes of Doordarshan and state-owned BTV, cooperation in fisheries sector and cooperation between Dhaka University and Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

An accord on allowing transit to Nepal through Rohanpur (Chapai Nawabganj) in Bangladesh and Singabad in India might also be signed. There is also the possibility of signing of an agreement on railway connectivity between Akhaura and Agartala, alignment construction of which is nearing completion.

India’s pressing issue of transit is expected to be signed under existing Trade Agreement between the two countries.

Under it, three separate protocols on use of Chittagong and Mongla seaports of Bangladesh and roads and railway are on the cards.

Both the countries would make arrangements for the use of their waterways, roadways and railways for commerce between the two countries for passage of goods between mainland India to its northeastern states through Bangladeshi territory. (PTI)

http://www.asianage.com/india/pm-leaves-two-day-visit-bangladesh-385