Protect national interest while dealing with India
Speakers at a seminar on Thursdayurged the government to protect
national interest while negotiating with Indiaduring the upcoming
visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Bangladeshfrom
September 6 to 9.
People are expecting a win-win situation insigning different
bilateral agreements , memorandum of understanding (MOU) andprotocols
between Dhaka and Delhi during the visit of the Indian premier,
theytold the seminar on "Upcoming Manmohan's visit: Veracity
andProspects" held in the National Press Club.
Organized by South Asia Youth forPeace and Prosperity Society it was
chaired by chairman of Center for ForeignAffairs Studies Ambassador
Ashfaqur Rahman. Prof. Dilara Choudhury presentedthe keynote paper.
Editor of The New Nation MostafaKamal Majumder, editor of the New Age
Nurul Kabir, editor of daily sun ProfSyed Anwar Hossain spoke as the
guest of honour.
Brig Gen (retd) Shahedul AnamKhan, Prof Faridul Alam of Chittagong
University, senior journalist andcolumnist Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury,
among others, also addressed the seminar.
Prof Dr Dilara Choudhury, in her keynote paper,said transit and
corridor are two different things. Transit means going to athird
country using the land of second country, while corridor means going
fromone destination to another of the same country using the territory
of secondcountry, she added.
While using Ashuganj-Agartalaroad, India will get corridor instead of
transit, she said, adding for thatBangladesh will not get any fees. On
the other hand, giving corridor endangerssovereignty of the country,
she said.
Ambassador Ashfaq, in his briefspeech, said Bangladesh can achieve its
rightful shares from India or any othercountry "If we could develop
enough diplomatic and negotiatingskill."
Brig. Shahedul Anam said in thename of Ashuganj-Agartala transit,
Bangladesh is actually giving corridor toIndia. Since independence, he
said, Bangladesh has given enough to India, nowit is India's turn to
give a good delivery to Bangladesh.
Emphasizing the need forupholding national interest in foreign policy
Brig Shahed said Bangladesh isnot a good bargainer, this limitation
should be removed.
Terming the seminar a very timelyand useful one Mostafa Kamal Majumder
said Bangladesh now wants to seemagnanimity from Indian side in
solving different bilateral issues, includingsharing of waters of
international rivers.
He said except Indus, India controls all therivers flowing through
Bangladesh. Obstruction made by barrages and dams onfree flow of
rivers in the upper riparian is destroying Bangladesh's reverielife,
he added.
Referring to decommissioning ofstructures on rivers in Europe and
America, he said Bangladesh may face erosionin coastal belts if
unilateral withdrawal of water in the upper riparian is notstopped.
About Indian propaganda onBangladeshis crossing border, Nurul Kabir
said Bangladesh's rural economy isbetter than India.
Giving transit to India withoutnational consensus will not bring any
good for either side, he said, addingpolitical parties in Bangladesh
should be united to protect nationalinterest.
Prof Syed Anwar Hossain saidBangladesh needs to formulate an 'India
Policy' on permanent basis to negotiatebilateral issues with the
neighboring country.
Zaglul A Choudhury said the visitof Indian premier should be viewed
objectively. People are in much expectationthat the visit will bring
positive outcome for Bangladesh.
Prof. Faridul Alam, evaluatingIndia's behaviour with Bangladesh during
last forty years, said in case ofnational interest India never gives
any concession.
http://thenewnationbd.com/newsdetails.aspx?newsid=15037
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