| Bangla boss to meet Buddha India switches on the charm | ||
| SUJAN DUTTA | ||
New Delhi, Feb. 25: Bangladesh's power behind the throne, General Moeen U. Ahmed, is being given a red carpet treatment reserved but rarely for guests of his stature. The six-day tour of Ahmed, who arrived here last evening, will culminate in a meeting with Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Friday and a possible visit to Gede railway station to learn about arrangements for the proposed Maitreyee Express train service between Calcutta and Dhaka. "This (Ahmed's visit) will definitely improve relations between our two offices, in particular, and between Bangladesh and India, in general," said army chief General Deepak Kapoor after receiving his Bangla counterpart. Ahmed is scheduled to stop by in Calcutta on February 29. He will fly to Calcutta on his return where he will meet Bhattacharjee that evening. It is likely that Ahmed will also visit Santiniketan. In Calcutta, the chief minister and the army chief are expected to explore issues that Ahmed might suggest to his army-backed interim government on his return to Dhaka. The communist leader and the general are not known to have met in the past. But this is one engagement — of the several lined up for the general — that is likely to quickly fade out the stiffness of military formalities and dissolve into the cloying sweetness of a common mother tongue. Shortly after Ahmed was given a guard of honour in South Block this morning, he was handed over the reins of six horses that the Indian Army gifted to the Bangladesh army. Ahmed was told that the stallions, Valiant and Arzoo, and the four mares were bred and produced at Equine Breeding Studs of the Remount Veterinary Corps at Hisar and Babugarh. Ahmed was briefed on the impeccable lineage of the thoroughbreds, the bay-coloured Valiant and the grey Arzoo. Valiant was sired by Volcano, a Hanoverian stallion. "Valiant has also acquired Arab blood through its mother, daughter of Gulshan and granddaughter of the famous Sumrak, a proven Russian Anglo Arab which was gifted by the Russian government to (the then) Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1960," according to an officer of the Remount Veterinary Corps. Arzoo has also acquired Hanoverian blood through its sire Arjun and grand sire Accord II. The horses will leave for Bangladesh in three trucks. "It is a goodwill gesture," said Kapoor, who was surprised when one of the mares neighed after Ahmed patted her. She quietened down with the taller Kapoor standing next to her. Army sources pointed out that Ahmed was himself of a rare breed. He is the first army officer commissioned after the liberation to rise to be army chief. "In fact, he is of the age of many of our brigadiers," an Indian officer said. Ahmed has been an instructor in his army staff college three times. It would follow that he would be well-networked in his force. He had also served as Bangladesh's defence attaché in Pakistan, said the officer, implying that the Bangla army chief had deeper insight into the geopolitics of South Asia than some of his peers. The general is expected to meet the President, the Prime Minister and minister of state for defence Pallam Raju. He will also meet foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee. Source: |
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