Dhaka to seek New Delhi's assurance

Dhaka will seek New Delhi’s reassurance that its soil will not be used against Bangladesh, the foreign minister has said.

“India has to assure (us). Definitely, we’ll want,” Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali said on Thursday.

He was speaking to reporters at the Shahjalal International Airport before leaving for New Delhi to attend the third round of the foreign minister level talks.

It will be the first such meeting known as Bangladesh-India Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) after the regime change in Delhi.

The question followed media reports that India’s Saradha Company was financing the Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh.

The minister left the issue to India for its own investigation, but said both sides had assured each other before that their soil would not be allowed against each other.

Bangladesh’s role in combating anti-India insurgency has been much appreciated by Delhi and bordering Indian states like Tripura after the Awami League came to power in Jan 2009.

“We also hope that India will not allow anyone to use its territory

Both sides agreed not to allow terrorists operate against each other after 2009.

The commitment had been reiterated during the first JCC in 2012.

They also rejected extremism, violence and terrorism and agreed to cooperate proactively in combating these evils.

Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque who is accompanying the minister with six more secretaries was present at the press briefing.

The minister will leave Delhi on Sep 21 to attend the UN general assembly with the Prime Minister.