Indo-Bangla talks on border issue begin

By Haroon Habib

DHAKA, JULY 2. The officials of Bangladesh and India have agreed that the problems on the frontier of the two countries be addressed expeditiously for maintaining ``peace and tranquillity'' along their common border that witnessed bloody encounters recently.

The two sides, in their meeting here on the first day of the three-day talks, stressed on the speedy resolution of demarcation of the U.N.-demarcated areas between them , a spokesperson of the Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs told presspersons.

The Joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Ms. Meera Shankar, led the 14-member Indian delegation in the meeting, while a 12-member Bangladesh delegation was headed by Mr. Janibul Huq, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs.

The first Joint Boundary Working Group meeting held after the Delhi meeting which finalised the terms of reference of the JBWG was marked by cordiality and friendship. It took up the issue of 6.5 km of undemarcated border between the two countries.

The Indian side said they had come with an open mind and assured their Bangladesh counterpart of doing everything possible to resolve the issue in the spirit of the Indira-Mujib Land Boundary Agreement of 1974.

To a question, the spokesperson said, ``there was good understanding'' between the two sides on issues that were raised today. ``The talks progressed in the right direction'' and ``we are hopeful'' of a positive outcome, he added.

To another question, he said the Indian delegation had assured that they would instruct their concerned authorities to exercise restraint, so that border shootings in recent weeks, which had claimed six to seven Bangladeshi lives, did not recur. The second JBWG meeting slated for tomorrow would deal with exchange of enclaves and their adverse possession.

Later in the day, the two delegations called on the Land Secretary, Mr. M. Saiful Islam, and are scheduled to meet the Home secretary, Mr. M.A. Reza, tomorrow.

Meanwhile, a Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTC) bus, as part of a joint trial carrying a Bangladesh official delegation, left here for Agartala in Tripura today to finalize a draft agreement prepared in Dhaka on introduction of Dhaka-Agartala direct bus service.

The four-member Bangladesh delegation led by the BRTC chairman, Mr. Azmal Chowdhury, during its stay in Agartala would hold talks with the Tripura Road Transport Corporation (TRTC) authorities to finalize the agreement in the light of the Dhaka talks held on Sunday and today with the Indian side.

An Indian delegation of equal number led by the TRTC chairman, Mr. Manik Dey, arrived in Dhaka by a TRTC bus on Sunday afternoon for the trial run. The Indian side had two rounds of talks with their Bangladesh counterpart. The two sides prepared the draft agreement which would be finalized during talks at Agartala, capital of Tripura.

Sources said the two sides initially agreed on the proposed two- way bus fare, reconstruction of part of the Dhaka- Agartala road after detailed discussions held in Dhaka during the last two days.

The visiting Bangladesh delegation is expected to return home on Wednesday.

The BRTC sources said the Dhaka-Agartala road needed some renovation and it would be difficult to do that immediately due to the monsoon rains. They expected to start the commercial bus service in August this year.

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Section  : International
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