Delhi's attitude hampers ties with Dhaka - seminar told
VognoDuut 519
Speakers tell roundtable
Staff Correspondent
Despite India's enormous contribution to the independence of Bangladesh,
Dhaka-New Delhi relations have failed to reach optimal level, said the speakers
at a roundtable yesterday. They said this failure could be attributed to
diplomatic inefficiency, lack of expertise on bilateral issues and New Delhi's
inclination to impose conditions on various treaties with Dhaka. The roundtable
on 'Indo-Bangladesh relationship: Political and economic context' was organised
by Bangladesh Policy Forum at the Cirdap auditorium in the city. Speaking as
chief guest, Prof Muzaffar Ahmed said after 1960 India's policy and
administration were dominated by politicians and bureaucrats of South and
South-West India who were not interested in strengthening relations with
Bangladesh.
He said Bangladesh also had not enough experts at political, administrative and
academic level who could really go for tough negotiations with India on
bilateral issues. Prof Muzaffar however said Saarc could play a vital role in
establishing a green belt in South Asian region to save its ecology from the
threat of natural disasters like tsunami. Former president of the Federation of
Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) Yusuf Abdullah Harun said
there has been a huge trade deficit of Bangladesh with India because of its
unjust tariffs and taxes on the export-oriented products of Bangladesh. "If
India even gives us access to its full market in exchange of transit, it is not
possible for Bangladesh to have more than $500 million business with that
country yearly," he added.
Prof Asif Nazrul of Dhaka University said Indo-Bangladesh relationship was
seriously hindered due to unbalanced water resources management. Refuting
Indian High Commissioner Veena Sikri's comment at a recent seminar that the
Indian River-Linking Project was at a conceptual stage, he said an official
report of National Water Development Agency of India published in March 2003
stated that feasibility studies of six links had already been completed. "India
has many other alternatives for water and energy but Bangladesh does not have,"
he added. Brigadier General (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain called for close
cooperation between the administration of the two countries, and creation of
think tanks for scientific studies on bilateral and multilateral treaties.
Senior Policy Analyst Sk Tawfique of Neeti Gobeshona Kendro, a research centre,
said the dispute over India's occupation of 27,000 acres of Bangladeshi land is
yet to be solved, he noted. DU Prof Dr Md Akhtaruzzaman and IT Consultant
Muzibul Islam also spoke.
Torpedo
http://www.thedailystar.net/2005/01/01/d5010101033.htm
Truck driver Kashem returns home
BSS, Dhaka
Abul Kashem, the Bangladeshi truck driver who was abducted by an Iraqi
guerilla group fighting the US and British troops in their homeland,
returned home yesterday.
Kashem returned two weeks after the militants handed him over to a rights
activists in Iraq, ending his 55-day confinement.
"I feel I am reborn," said Kashem as reporters surrounded him upon his
landing at the Zia International Airport.
He expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, Foreign Minister
M Morshed Khan and all others for their efforts to get him released.
Bangladesh Ambassador to Kuwait Nazrul Islam Khan accompanied Kashem in a
Bangladesh Biman flight.
Cameras flashed in when Kashem took and hugged his two-year-old daughter.
"I am very happy," told Kashem's wife to newsmen.
A large number of people assembled at the airport to greet him.
Kashem, working for a Kuwait company, was abducted on October 19 as he was
driving with supplies for a US military camp in Iraq from Kuwait.
The 45-year old truck driver described his ordeal during the captivity.
"After about 15 days, we were taken to a nearby jungle where our abductors
killed two Iraqis on charges of collaboration with the US troops," he said.
The guerillas took a softer attitude towards him 'for being a Muslim and
national of friendly Bangladesh' and brought him back to the hideout with
assurance of release.
Kashem said the guerillas asked him to convey a warning asking all
Bangladeshis 'not to visit Iraq to help the occupation forces'.
The guerillas also gave him some money and winter clothes while handing him
over to the rights activists, who arranged his immediate return to Kuwait
and keeping in care of the Bangladesh mission.
Asked why he went to conflict-torn Iraq defying suggestions from the
Bangladesh mission, he said the lure of money prompted him to take the risk.
Bangladesh ambassador Nazrul Islam Khan, who played an important role for
his release, said he held talks with Kashem's employer who assured him of
not sending Kashem to Iraq again.
Kashem stayed in Dhaka yesterday at a relative's house. He will go to his
ancestral home in Feni today and stay there for some days before flying to
Kuwait to join his job.
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