Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, MP, told a gathering, that we must build on the success of the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) and hopefully, go on to settle the Teesta Water Accord and those relating to other common rivers.
He said that amicable settlement of the water dispute would lead to defusion of the explosive challenges of communalism and poverty, faced by both the countries and open up a golden era of mutual trust and confidence.
The minister was speaking as chief guest at a seminar organized by the Muktijoddha Sangram Parishad on “The aspirations of the Freedom Fighters and Bangladesh-India Relations: Past, Present and Future” at his party, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) office, here on Thursday.
Welcoming the Bangladesh visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi he said that this trip would take the relationship between the two countries to a new level which was wrought through the supreme sacrifice of people of both the countries. He said that the ebb in the relationship that had set in during the tenure of the unelected government and the BNP-Jamaat Four-Party Alliance had been successfully overcome by the government of Sheikh Hasina.
Responding to criticism from so-called India-haters, he said that one has to view the relationship between the two countries from a Bangladesh perspective and not through those of Pakistan or any other country. He reiterated that the freedom achieved through the blood bath of the Great Liberation War could not be destroyed by minor scuffles.
Describing militancy and cross-country terrorism as the seeds of mistrust between the two countries, Inu expressed the hope that the upcoming bilateral Hasina-Modi talks would address them, adequately.
He had a word of caution for unresolved bilateral problems and said lingering disputes would affect the fortunes of both countries and fuel the “tension balloons” fomented by conspirators. He said “playing adversaries could be dangerous, it is better that the contentions be taken up, one at a time, and resolved, satisfactorily. He said that only a relationship based on mutual respect and reciprocity could deactivate the subversive elements.
Presided over by Advocate Habibur Rahman Shawkat, president of the host organization, the meeting was also addressed among others by Moinuddin Khan Badal, MP, Shirin Akhter, MP and JSD general secretary, Sharif Nurul Ambia.
