Khaleda sharpens knives on India pacts | |||
Dhaka, Jan. 14 (PTI): The Khaleda Zia-led BNP has warned of a series of protests "in and outside the parliament" against pacts "compromising national interest", as Bangladesh's main opposition party rejected treaties signed during Premier Sheikh Hasina's India visit. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party also said its members would end their seven-month abstention from the legislature and protest the government's policies, including the agreements with India. The bilateral pacts include one on allowing India use of the Chittagong and Mongla seaports. "In the present-day world, you cannot live with doors closed," Hasina had said yesterday before leaving for home. But the pro-Pakistan BNP called it a question of "our life and death". "This is a question of our life and death.… The BNP is not taking it lightly and soon our chairperson (Khaleda Zia) will announce the protest plans," senior leader R.A. Gani told reporters after a meeting of the party's highest policymaking body last midnight. No official briefing followed the meeting chaired by Khaleda but several BNP standing committee members said they had decided to wage a tough campaign "in phases", explaining the "negative sides" of the agreements. Insiders said the party had also decided to return to the parliament, ending its long abstention. "We are trying to wage a movement in and outside the parliament against the government's activities," BNP lawmaker Salauddin Quader Chowdhury said. During Hasina's trip, India and Bangladesh signed three agreements related to security, cross-border crime and legal co-operation and two memorandums of understanding. Hasina said her visit was "cent per cent" successful. But the BNP said Hasina's tour was a "failure". "We don't see any gain from the Prime Minister's visit to India," secretary-general Khondaker Delwar Hossain told a party rally, adding that the pacts would turn Bangladesh into an "Indian market". The criticism came even as foreign relation analysts and business leaders reacted differently to Hasina's visit. "The decision to offer India our port facilities will help enhancement of trade relations. The issue should be seen from an economic point of view instead of politics," Bangladesh Economic Society president Q.K. Ahmed said. But former president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry Abdul Awal Mintoo said important issues like settlement of the maritime boundary and sharing of river waters were yet to be resolved. "They (India) fulfilled their targets, but we couldn't... achievement on the key issues is very negligible, which frustrates the nation," Mintoo said. |
Khaleda sharpens knives on India pacts
HC to hear Zia Trust case petitions Jan 19
Koko asked to appear in court Feb 15
BNP, the main opposition in parliament, has taken an initiative to build a greater unity among political parties and personalities traditionally known as having doubts about India's good will towards Bangladesh.
__._,_.___