Bangladesh has requested India for fast-track implementation of the commitments made at the highest political level to conclude the Teesta water deal and ratify the protocol on the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement.
Returning from the annual Foreign Office Consultation in New Delhi, foreign secretary Mijarul Quayes told reporters here on Sunday that issues of cross-border crimes, killing at the border, extradition treaty, connectivity, Tipaimukh Dam and Indian river-linking scheme figured prominently at the consultation on July 24.
The foreign secretary said he requested his counterpart Ranjan Mathai who led the Indian side to make sure that the BSF maintains maximum restraint so that no Bangladeshi is killed
at the common border.
He said there has been the highest level commitment from India to bring down the killing at the border to a zero level, which needs to be implemented. Mathai assured him that he would sit with the Indian border security force to make it happen.
‘Incidents of the border killing might have come down; but not a single killing is acceptable,’ Quayes told Mathai.
He said recently two more Bangladeshis were killed at the border by the Indian BSF. He said once the Foreign Ministry gets the details about the incidents from the BGB they will take up the matter with the Indian authorities.
Quayes said during the meeting he stressed on early conclusion of the Teesta water sharing deal and ratifying the protocol on the LBA by settling internal problems by India.
Regarding the Teesta water sharing deal, he said ‘We want to give them (India) some space to complete their internal consultations to reach the deal.’
On the controversial Tipaimukh dam in India, the Foreign Secretary said the joint experts group will hold its first meeting in New Delhi on August 27-28 to discuss its impact.
About the Indian river-linking project, he said New Delhi reiterated that its river linking project would not involve the river system of the Himalayan component, rather it would be based on the rivers that originated in India.
The foreign secretary said the two sides agreed to develop infrastructure
at the land custom stations. A team from India will come here to carry on feasibility study on infrastructure development at Ashuganj.
-With New Age input
