Bangladesh is ready to discuss the implementation of the Land Boundary Agreement with India if New Delhi seeks any help from Dhaka, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohammad Shahriar Alam said yesterday.
“If India faces any temporary obstacle in implementing the agreement, due to domestic factors, it is their internal matter. But if they need any help from Bangladesh, the moment the Indian government will inform us, we will take a decision after discussion,” he told reporters at the Foreign Ministry.
Shahriar said the Indian side had informed them that there was a good chance of endorsing the bill in the ongoing session of the parliament.
Asked if the complexities would be resolved by this week, the junior minister said: “I do not want to make any premature comment. All activities have some procedural matter. The government and parliament are two independent bodies while the government cannot influence the parliament.
“We can only hope [for a positive result] since we have been assured by the top level of the Indian government.”
The problems could not be resolved in the last 40 years, “but now both the countries are very close to resolving it,” he added.
Bangladesh and India signed the Land Boundary Agreement in 1974 and its protocol in 2011. Dhaka ratified the LBA in 1974 but India is yet to do that. Once the agreement is implemented, the neighbouring countries would exchange 162 enclaves and solve all other problems related to land boundary issues.
When asked, Indian High Commissioner to Dhaka Pankaj Saran said India had an intention to endorse the bill by today.
“But right now the bill is the property of the parliament. So, we have to wait for the parliament to do its business,” he said after having a meeting with Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque for about two hours yesterday afternoon.
“It could be tomorrow [today], but it’s a parliamentary decision,” he added.
Asked if the Business Advisory Committee of the Rajya Sabha took any decision to discuss the bill today, Pankaj said: “I am not aware of it but the intention is to introduce it as early as possible.”
About the exclusion of Assam from the bill, he said: “I would just say, just wait and watch.”
Regarding Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s possible visit to Dhaka, the high commissioner replied: “Just wait and watch.”
The Indian cabinet, chaired by Modi, yesterday approved the LBA bill including territories in Assam along with those in West Bengal, Tripura and Meghalaya, reports PTI. It would require ratification of at least 50% of the state legislatures before it comes into effect.
The BJP leaders from the state had earlier demanded that Assam be delinked from the bill as the exchange of territories to Bangladesh had become an “emotive issue” in the state.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday said her government supported the LBA as the people wanted it. She, however, also sought a package from the central government for rehabilitation of those affected, Zeenews reported.
“I talked to the local people. We are supporting it because the people were in favour of it. It is not that we are imposing it [on them],” she said.