Dhaka to seek timeframe from Delhi
Dhaka will press hard for the much-awaited Teesta water-sharing deal and ratification of the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) at the third meeting of the India-Bangladesh Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) to be held on September 20 in India.
Diplomatic sources said Dhaka will seek "specific timeframe" from New Delhi this time to conclude the two issues.
Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali will lead a high-profile 15-member delegation, including eight secretaries of the government such as principal secretary to the prime minister, secretaries of the ministries of foreign, home, commerce and shipping to the meeting.
Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who invited Ali to attend the meeting, will lead the Indian side. The Bangladesh delegation will be visiting on September 18-21.
This will be Ali's maiden visit to India since becoming the foreign minister and he will also pay courtesy calls on the Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and meet other Indian dignitaries during the visit.
Both Dhaka and New Delhi consider the meeting as significant, as a wide range of issues like trade, connectivity, power, water resources, security, border management, introduction of coastal shipping, infrastructure, people to people contacts, culture, environment and education will be discussed.
The killing of Bangladeshi citizens along the border will also be high on the agenda at the meeting between the two foreign ministers, said foreign ministry officials.
Bangladesh will urge the Indian border security force to stop killing Bangladeshis. "It must be stopped at any cost, otherwise it will not be easy to improve the relations," said an official at the foreign ministry.
The JCC will review the progress of cooperation in important areas like security, trade and connectivity, water resources and power sector. Bangladesh would ask for import of 100 MW electricity from Palatana plant in Tripura and another 500 MW in addition to the present 500 MW, said officials.
Officials said Bangladesh delegation will discuss enhancing its export to India and raise the issue of certain para-tariff and non-tariff barriers that lie in the way of increased exports to India.
He said the Bangladesh side already opposed the inclusion of alleged "illegal immigration" issue in the JCC agenda and it may not come up for discussion.
The Indian side will put maximum emphasis on security issues and some other issues including exemption of travel tax for Indian citizens.
The latest controversy of funding Jamaat-e-Islami of Bangladesh by the Trinamool Congress and Saradha may come up for discussion, said a senior official at the foreign ministry.
But he said the official spokesperson of India Syed Akbaruddin at a press briefing on September 12 in New Delhi confirmed that the government had not received any report of the sort that was mentioned in news reports.
Ali is expected to elicit Indian leadership's views on the progress made towards reaching a national consensus on the Teesta water-sharing, said the source.
Meanwhile, a constitution amendment bill to ratify the LBA is awaiting Indian parliament's approval. The bill was placed in the Rajya Sabha, upper house of parliament, during Congress-led UPA rule last year, but is yet to be passed.
The bill has already been referred to parliamentary standing committee.
After Rajya Sabha clears the bill, it will go to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament whose members are directly elected by people. The next session of parliament is due in December.
The issues of extradition of ULFA leader Anup Chetia from Bangladesh and Bangladeshi convicts Subrata Bain and Sajjad Hossain from India could also be discussed at the JCC meeting, said sources.
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