UNB, Dhaka :
The Cabinet on Monday approved a proposal for the ratification of a protocol to implement the much-awaited Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) between Bangladesh and India.
The approval was given at the regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet held at the Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hussain Bhuiyan said the historic and epoch-making Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) was signed by then Bangladesh Prime Minister Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in May, 1974 for the exchange of some enclaves between the two countries.
The Cabinet Secretary said the Bangladesh government on November 28 in 1974 ratified the deal known as the historic Mujib-Indira agreement at the Jatiya Sangsad through the third amendment to the constitution.
According to the constitution, Musharraf said, an amendment to the constitution will have to be brought for changing the country’s boundary.
“That’s why the third amendment to the constitution was made to ratify the LBA,” he said.
After Bangabandhu’s assassination in 1975, he said, no effective initiative was taken to this end and there was a necessity for the ratification of the LBA by the Indian government.
He said, constitutional amendment is a complicated issue as two-thirds majority is needed to do that.
The Cabinet Secretary said the Indian government had to face difficulties for amending the constitution. However, the Indian parliament recently ratified the LBA by bringing an amendment to their constitution.
In November 2011, a protocol to implement and make effective the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) was signed in Dhaka.
The foreign ministers of the two countries inked the protocol in presence of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her then Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh.
He said, as the main LBA had not been signed by the Indian government there was no scope for executing the protocol. “That’s why the protocol was not placed at that time.”
Musharraf said it is the high time that this protocol be ratified by the two governments as the Indian parliament recently ratified the LBA.
Under a provision of the protocol, he said, Bangladesh would get the enclaves that are situated in Bangladesh and India would get the enclaves that exist in India.
If the Indians in Bangladeshi enclaves want to stay there, they will be given Bangladeshi citizenship and if Bangladeshis living in Indian enclaves want to stay, they will be given Indian citizenship, he said adding that the desire of the citizens would get the priority.
The Cabinet on Monday approved a proposal for the ratification of a protocol to implement the much-awaited Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) between Bangladesh and India.
The approval was given at the regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet held at the Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hussain Bhuiyan said the historic and epoch-making Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) was signed by then Bangladesh Prime Minister Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in May, 1974 for the exchange of some enclaves between the two countries.
The Cabinet Secretary said the Bangladesh government on November 28 in 1974 ratified the deal known as the historic Mujib-Indira agreement at the Jatiya Sangsad through the third amendment to the constitution.
According to the constitution, Musharraf said, an amendment to the constitution will have to be brought for changing the country’s boundary.
“That’s why the third amendment to the constitution was made to ratify the LBA,” he said.
After Bangabandhu’s assassination in 1975, he said, no effective initiative was taken to this end and there was a necessity for the ratification of the LBA by the Indian government.
He said, constitutional amendment is a complicated issue as two-thirds majority is needed to do that.
The Cabinet Secretary said the Indian government had to face difficulties for amending the constitution. However, the Indian parliament recently ratified the LBA by bringing an amendment to their constitution.
In November 2011, a protocol to implement and make effective the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) was signed in Dhaka.
The foreign ministers of the two countries inked the protocol in presence of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her then Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh.
He said, as the main LBA had not been signed by the Indian government there was no scope for executing the protocol. “That’s why the protocol was not placed at that time.”
Musharraf said it is the high time that this protocol be ratified by the two governments as the Indian parliament recently ratified the LBA.
Under a provision of the protocol, he said, Bangladesh would get the enclaves that are situated in Bangladesh and India would get the enclaves that exist in India.
If the Indians in Bangladeshi enclaves want to stay there, they will be given Bangladeshi citizenship and if Bangladeshis living in Indian enclaves want to stay, they will be given Indian citizenship, he said adding that the desire of the citizens would get the priority.
