Indian envoy Pankaj Saran reveals Tipaimukh contrast

“We have a situation where on the one hand Bangladesh has included the Tipaimukh project from which they would like to receive power but on the other hand they have also expressed concerns over it," Saran told a "Meet the Press" at the National Press Club.

“So we have to reconcile the two. There is a need to recognise the contradictory situation,” he said.

Talking of India-Bangladesh relations, Saran said it was more complex than it appeared to be. But he said the relations were at a "new high".

Bangladesh has been voicing concerns over the Tipaimukh dam on the upstream of the Barak River despite Delhi’s assurances that “nothing will be done that will be harmful to Bangladesh”.

The issue is being discussed in the Joint River Commission between the two countries.

Saran touched upon all aspects of the bilateral relations in six categories: political and security, development cooperation, trade, commerce and investment, water issues, regional and sub-regional cooperation and people to people contact.

Based on the historical experiences, he said both countries could “maximise gains without harming each other”.

“We both benefit by working together to maximise our gains,” he said.

Saran said India always respects a sovereign and independent Bangladesh and that “cooperation does not mean anyone is sacrificing sovereignty”.

He said 16 projects worth of $794 million had been identified and $200 million grants under India’s $1 billion line of credit (the biggest ever to any country) has already been made available to Bangladesh.

The Finance Minister in Parliament said Bangladesh would use the $200 million for the Padma Bridge project that Bangladesh plans to do with its own resources.

The envoy said they had invited Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina again to visit India, but date has not been fixed yet.

He once again reiterated India’s commitment to resolve the unresolved issues including Teesta water sharing deal and ratification of the land boundary agreement that the ruling Congress government was trying to implement in the face of resistance from the opposition.

The envoy said India's ruling party politicians were working to build consensus within their country as ratification of the land boundary agreement would need a bill to go through the parliament.

He, however, acknowledged that issues of border management were challenging and sought support of the Bangladesh government.

He said border killings came down ‘zero’ between January and a week ago.

City Elections BNP said Fitting reply, if plotted to fail

The BNP yesterday threatened to give a fitting reply if the government, using unfair means, defeated the opposition alliance backed mayoral candidates in Saturday’s polls to four city corporations.
“The surge of people favouring our [mayoral] candidates has begun. They are waiting to give their verdict against government-backed [mayoral] candidates. Realising this, the regime has planned to defeat our candidates by trickery,” BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said.
Fakhrul and other top leaders of BNP were addressing a rally at the city’s Suhrawardy Udyan with Dhaka city BNP unit convener Sadeque Hossain Khoka in the chair.
“The city corporation polls will be an acid test for the government as well as the Election Commission,” said BNP standing committee member Rafiqul Islam Mia.
He and other top BNP leaders vowed that they would launch a tougher movement to topple the government after Saturday, if the government applied any unfair “tactics” to defeat pro-opposition mayor aspirants in the elections to Barisal, Rajshahi, Khulna and Sylhet city corporations.
They alleged the government had forced some officials to go into retirement and it was rearranging the civil service to ensure their victory in the next general elections.
They called upon the government to ensure a level playing field for all parties. They also came down heavily on the Anti-terrorism (amendment) Bill, 2013, and demanded that the government cancel the bill immediately.
Former Dhaka city corporation mayor Khoka said, “… they [people] will not allow any national polls with Sheikh Hasina as chief of the election-time government.”
It was the first rally in the city of any political party since the May 5 mayhem centring the Hefajat-e Islam rally.
BNP had sought permission to hold the rally in front of its Nayapaltan office to protest the warrant of arrest issued against BNP senior vice-chairman Tarique Rahman and demanding restoration of the election-time non-party caretaker government system.
However, Dhaka Metropolitan Police at the eleventh hour gave them permission to hold the rally at Suhrawardy Udyan.

Barisal BNP man hurt as cops open fire

A campaign worker of 18-party backed mayor aspirant Ahsan Habib Kamal had shotgun pellet injuries in Barisal city during a scuffle between police and workers of Kamal last night.
BNP youth wing Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal activist Md Harun-ur-Rashid, 40, was taken to Barisal Medical College Hospital. Doctors there took out seven pellets from his body and said he was out of danger.
Bilkis Jahan Shirin, secretary of district BNP, said some female campaign workers of Kamal were doing their jobs in Boiddyapara area around 8:00pm when police detained five of them for violating the electoral conduct.code of

 Hearing the news, mayor aspirant Kamal rushed to the spot and requested police to free his activists. But police ignoring the request opened fire on Kamal, Shirin claimed.

Babu, a witness , claimed that Harun got shot when he tried to protect Kamal from getting shot. Witnesses claimed that Harun was a bodyguard of Kamal.

However, Shakhawat Hossain, officer-in-charge of Barisal Police Station, claimed that police fired one shot to disperse a mob that was trying to take away the people they arrested on the orders of a mobile court.

He said police detained the five in connection with distributing flyers that used religious sentiment to slur mayor aspirant Shawkat Hossain Hiron.

In a press conference later in the night, Barisal police said it was going to file a case against the five women and Harun in connection with preventing law enforcers from doing their duty.

Following the incident, 18-party opposition alliance activists brought out a protest procession in Brisal.

Mojibor Rahman Sarwar MP, coordinator of the 18-party backed Jatiyatabadi Nagorik Parishad’s election campaign, said the incident proves that police and administration were biased towards the ruling party backed Hiron.

Bangladesh Agrani Bank has Cancelled Test for Recruitment of Senior Officers

He said a board meeting of the bank on Wednesday night also decided to hold a fresh examination.
“The dates for the rescheduled exams will be announced later,” he said, adding that the examinees would be allowed to take the test with their existing admits cards.
Several job-seekers taking the test, held on May 31, alleged the question papers had been leaked.
Some 42,000 applicants had sat for the tests in 15 centres in Dhaka on that day.

Several of them alleged the question paper was available at many dormitories and photocopy machine shops of Dhaka University on the morning of the test.
Some dailies also ran reports that the some answers were also supplied to some applicants through SMS.
Bangladesh Bank was also informed by some students who complained formally.
In response to that, the central bank sent a letter to Agrani bank, saying it had been received hundreds of complaints over the past few days.
The letter also said such a leak was unacceptable.