As the government prepares to introduce legislation in Parliament that will enable implementation of the Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh, the Sheikh Hasina government is hoping that its passage will help bridge the growing “trust deficit” between the two neighbours.
For, Dhaka feels that while it has delivered on various fronts as per New Delhi’s requirements, it hasn’t seen an equal measure of reciprocity from its neighbour. Consequently, the trust deficit which had narrowed during the earlier part of Sheikh Hasina’s tenure has now widened again, feels Dhaka.
India has not been able to deliver an agreement on the sharing of Teesta waters to Bangladesh. Neither has the Land Boundary pact been ratified yet by Parliament which would make its implementation possible.
The Sheikh Hasina government is keen that New Delhi at least deliver on the land boundary pact as it heads into elections a few months from now to be able to show something tangible for its warm ties with India.
The pact entails the transfer of 111 Indian enclaves spread over 17,160.63 acres in Bangladesh to Bangladesh and 51 Bangladesh enclaves spread over an area of 7,110.02 acres in India to India.
In a last ditch effort to see the land boundary agreement through Parliament — it requires a constitutional amendment bill to be passed by a simple majority — Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called senior BJP leaders earlier this week to seek their support for the bill.
But with the BJP appearing unconvinced so far about the need to back the amendment, the government is keeping its fingers crossed. The BJP, which had at an earlier date some months ago appeared convinced about the need to see this legislation through, now seems in no mood to support it now.
What is driving its thinking is the opposition to the pact by its state units in Assam and West Bengal. However, the state governments of West Bengal, Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya have given their written consent for the pact.
The PM, in his pitch for the agreement, had told senior BJP leaders L.K. Advani, Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitely and Sushma Swaraj that Bangladesh has been extending “fullest cooperation to India in several areas related to our national interest”.
Indeed, as Dhaka has been saying and New Delhi readily agrees, the Sheikh Hasina government has done its bit in dismantling anti-India terror networks. The PM drew the BJP leaders attention to the fact that its neighbour has handed over to India several top insurgent group leaders like Ulfa’s Arbinda Rajkhowa, NDFB’s Ranjan Daimary and UNLF’s R.K. Meghan.
The PM also told the BJP leaders that Bangladesh inked an extradition pact that had been under consideration for three decades with Bangladesh in January. India has also been allowed to develop infrastructure and connectivity allowing movement of goods between the two countries and between India and the Northeast.