Terming the implementation of much-awaited Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) with India as a great political and diplomatic success, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said through this landmark deal, Bangladesh would get 10,050 acre more lands from its next-door neighbour.
“The Indian parliament has ratified the LBA by amending the constitution. Today’s implementation is the success of our initiatives and through the execution of the deal, the long-awaited expectation of the enclave people has been fulfilled,” she said.
The Leader of the House said this in reply to a question raised by treasury bench member SM Mostafa Rashidi Suja in the House during her question answer session.
The prime minister said the enclave people have been leading a very inhuman life for the last 68 years. They remain deprived of all civic amenities and out of touch of development as they have not been specified as to which country they belong to.
Highlighting the background of execution of the LBA, the Leader of the House said Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman signed the historic, prudent and farsighted deal with the then Indian Prime Minister Srimati Indira Gandhi on May 16 in 1974 in New Delhi by realising the importance and depth of the problems related to Bangladesh-India boundary.
The Prime Minister said Bangladesh parliament ratified the LBA through the third amendment to the constitution. But after the assassination of Bangabandhu, no subsequent government took any effective initiative to implement the LBA, she said.
Sheikh Hasina said the land boundary problem with India would have been solved and Indian parliament would have ratified the LBA much earlier, had Bangabandhu been alive.
She said the subsequent governments of Zia, Etshad, Khaleda and caretaker government had no courage to solve the problem.
In this connection, the Prime Minister said those who labeled the Mujib-Indira deal as a “deal of slavery” are now accepting and thanking the implementation of the LBA.
Such elements, she said, also criticised the Ganges water agreement and the landmark Chittagong Hill Tracts treaty in the same languages. “We had to listen various words from them after inking these deals and it’s a nature of Bangladesh’s politics that there will be opposition for the sake of opposition,” she said.
Sheikh Hasina said those who did not accept Bangladesh’s independence under the leadership of Bangabandhu considered the LBA as the agreement of slavery. The prime minister said through the execution of the LBA, the enclave people would now get an address and their living standard would be developed. “The great achievement of the LBA is that all members of the Indian parliament irrespective of party and opinion gave vote unanimously on the single issue of Bangladesh,” she said.
In this connection, the Leader of the House thanked all concerned including the Indian president, prime minister, leader of the opposition, all lawmakers and political parties.
Referring to signing of agreements, MoUs and protocols with India, the prime minister said Bangladesh has achieved in every field.
In this regard, she said Bangladesh has got transit along with Nepal and Bhutan from India. Through it, the trade and commerce will be expanded, she said, adding, many things could be achieved by maintaining good relations.
The prime minister said a total of six deals, six protocols and 10 other MoUs were signed during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 6-7.
She said Bangladesh-India friendly ties reached a new height and new avenues of mutual cooperation and development have been unveiled, while the connectivity at the political, government and common people’s levels has increased manifolds.
Sheikh Hasina said initiatives would be taken to solve other bilateral problems with India.
“It is expected that the existing friendly ties with the people of both the countries would be further deepened and strengthened through it,” she hoped.
