Published : 03 Jun 2013, 11:50 AM
India is still hopeful of ratifying the land boundary agreement with Bangladesh, its envoy in Dhaka says, nearly a month after the opposition BJP resisted its introducing as a bill in the Parliament.
High Commissioner Pankaj Saran after meeting foreign secretary Md Shahidul Haque on Monday told journalists he had conveyed the message that the Indian government would “again try to introduce” the bill in the next session of the parliament.
“We are in touch with the opposition parties in India to develop a political consensus,” he said.
To ratify the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement along with the protocol signed in September 2011, Indian government needs to amend the country’s Constitution.
The 2011 protocol provides for swapping 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh with 51 Bangladesh enclaves in India and for preserving status quo on the adversely possessed swathes of land.
The issue has long been a priority of the Hasina—Manmohan government, but the move seemed stalled when the United Progressive Alliance government on May 7 faced stiff resistance from the opposition in trying to introduce the bill in the Parliament.
Two parliamentarians from the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP)– a regional party of northeastern Indian state of Assam – tried to snatch a copy of the Constitution (119th Amendment) Bill from the External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid when he was trying to introduce it in the Rajya Sabha – the upper House of Parliament.
Ever since Dhaka and New Delhi added the protocol to the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement in September 2011 to finally settle the boundary and resolve disputes over enclaves and adversely possessed pieces of land, the AGP has been opposing the move to ratify the deal.
Though the BJP – the main opposition party in Indian Parliament – was initially not firm on opposing the Congress-led coalition Government’s move to ratify the Land Boundary Agreement, it hardened its stand after its former ally AGP sought its help to stall the Bill.
Manmohan Singh’s government needs at least two-third majority in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha of Indian Parliament to get the Bill passed.
Though the Congress-led Government does not have enough numbers in both the Houses of Indian Parliament to ensure a smooth passage of the Bill, New Delhi is still keen to introduce it, apparently to reassure Bangladesh government of its commitment to ratify the Agreement and the protocol added to it later in 2011.
The envoy Saran said his government would continue to try to ratify land boundary agreement “because that is a commitment we have made to the government of Bangladesh”.
The high commissioner during his meeting with the foreign secretary discussed a whole range of bilateral issues including the ongoing projects under the India’s line of credit and economic cooperation among the BCIM –Bangladesh, China, India, and Myanmar –countries.