India is yet to share a proposal with Bangladesh about the partial or staggered implementation of the land boundary agreement.
The agreement has languished for four decades because of Indian delays in ratifying the pact and, more recently, opposition from its state governments.
“We did not receive any proposal from the Indian government,” said State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam yesterday.
The junior minister said the LBA, signed in 1974, and its protocol, signed in 2011, are still valid. He said the Indian side, time and again, has reassured Bangladesh that it would remain valid in the future.
“We are waiting to implement the agreement – but it has not happened in 40 years,” he said.
The state minister said: “We will consider any specific proposal about staggered implementation of the agreement.”
He categorically said no action would be taken beyond the stipulations of the agreement.
There are media reports that India is trying to exclude Assam in implementing the LBA, for political reasons.
A bill to amend the Indian constitution to pave the way for ratifying the agreement was placed in India’s upper house at the end of 2013; a parliamentary standing committee after scrutinising the bill submitted its report a year later.
City elections
The government said it is ready to answer questions related to the recently held city corporation elections and provided relevant information to Bangladesh’s embassies abroad.
“The foreign ministry is ready to respond if anybody wants to know anything,” Shahriar Alam said.
The junior minister said the information available showed that out of 2,701 vote centres, the Election Working Group recorded 138 incidents.
According to the government’s assessment, this was the most peaceful local government election held so far, he said.
Shahriar said US State Department Under-Secretary Wendy Sherman, during a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, asked why Bangladesh did not introduce an electronic voting system.
“The prime minister told her that it had been used in other elections, but it was opposed by the BNP,” he said.
Sherman expressed surprise that the BNP opposed the use of such a system, Shahriar said.
