However, as one who has followed this topic dispassionately over the years, I feel a strong urge to bring certain facts to the attention of your readers, for our desires apart, the issue of forging better Bangladesh-India relations is much more difficult than meets the eye. To start with, the dispatch of a special envoy by Bangladesh was a rather hasty decision. Going by what we have read in the newspapers, the idea seems to have emanated in the PMO and initially ministers from other ministries were named as a possible special envoy. It then appeared, going by newspapers reports, that the foreign minister was interested to go and in a hurry. In fact, the foreign ministry went ahead and even mentioned dates that were later changed, in an effort to force the issue. What our side did not do, again assessing from reading this morning's newspapers, is send the FM to India with a clear sense of purpose and clear stands on the outstanding issues between our two countries. The foreign minister went to India, so it appears, just for a publicity exercise. When our special envoy met the Indian Minister for Petroleum, Mr. Mani Shankhar Ayar , a former diplomat and received an assurance on double diesel export, he had no answer to the Indian request on the sale of natural gas and his response was evasive, to say the least. He also had no answer to the Indian request on the transit and his response to the gas pipeline from Myanmar to India was one pulled straight out of the hat!! I am sure when Mr. Khan was asked on the serious issues of cross border terrorism during this visit, he had nothing to say either for we have made our position on this known very unequivocally just last month when the DG of BDR told the Indians categorically that the presence of Indian troops inside Bangladesh for joint operation against the terrorists would be an infringement on our sovereignty.

Rightly or wrongly, the BNP is perceived in New Delhi as anti-Indian. The consistent denial to the Indians their requests on land transit or use of the Chittagong port , both economic and commercial requests, cannot be continued any longer if Bangladesh wants Indian friendship. On the sale of gas, Mr. Khan's "assurance" that India will be the first country to buy our gas because of "proximity" was again one pulled out of the hat, rather than one thought out as a part of a mature policy. Bangladesh should have no fancy wishes that it would receive Indian cooperation on river linkages or trade concessions unilaterally without concessions on the sale of gas, transit, etc. In fact, now that the Indians have offered unilateral concessions or made promises to do so , Bangladesh must come out with their concrete quid pro quo fast. This is where I am afraid that the outcome of the visit could bring bad consequences for us. Bangladesh will not or cannot come out fast enough on what the Indians wish of us. The BNP government has very strong, negative and well entrenched views against each of these concessions and it would be foolhardy to believe that just because India has a Congress government in New Delhi, Bangladesh would change its stance on these issues. Then again, Congress also has very strong views about Bangladesh that does not tally with this sudden positive vibes emanating from New Delhi. Therefore it may be better to consider Mr. Khan's visit just as a publicity exercise and leave it at that, rather than raise high expectations.