Published on 11:00 PM, June 28, 2009

Make public all info on Tipaimukh

BNP asks govt to send one JS team

BNP Standing Committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain yesterday asked the government to make public all data and information on the 'controversial' Tipaimukh Dam project provided by the Indian government.
Mosharraf, also a former minister, said only a parliamentary delegation should visit the site of the proposed dam in the greater interest of the country as sending of two or more teams there will harm national unity.
If more than one team is sent there, it would weaken Bangladesh's bargaining power with India, he told journalists at his Segunbagicha office.
He, however, indicated that his party might consider sending a separate team to Tipaimukh only if the experts recommended by them are not included in the delegation.
Foreign Minister Dipu Moni recently said the government had received information on the project from the Indian government.
Earlier, BNP placed a proposal before the government for including five experts in the parliamentary delegation as a condition for announcing the names of its representatives for the all-party parliamentary team that will visit the site in India.
Rejecting the proposal, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently suggested that the main opposition party should send their own team to the site and submit its report to the government.
The BNP leader also urged the government to investigate whether poison was mixed with the food served to Hasina during her stay in jail.
He suspected that the same thing might have been done to Khaleda Zia in the sub-jail as the then caretaker government wanted to implement the 'minus two theory'.
Mosharraf said he did not have any specific information on the matter but he believes that the allegations brought by deputy leader in parliament Sajeda Chowdhury was based on facts.
Sajeda, on Saturday, alleged that Hasina was given 'poison-mixed food' during her stay in prison.