Indian 'damage control' on LBA

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Indian 'damage control' on LBA
Senior Correspondent, bdnews24.com
Published: 2013-08-31 13:27:38.0 BdST Updated: 2013-08-31 13:32:44.0 BdST

Indian 'damage control' on LBA - bdnews24.com

India is trying to stitch together a bilateral meeting between Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Sheikh Hasina in New York next month on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Kolkata based 'The Telegraph' reports.

It said the meeting would be aimed at mitigating “any diplomatic fallout of Parliament’s failure to endorse a land swap pact electorally crucial for the government in Dhaka”.

India’s external affairs ministry and Bangladesh’s foreign office are coordinating to identify a date when the two Prime Ministers can meet in the last week of September, the report says quoting India’s senior government officials.

The report, however, said the chance for the meeting was ‘slim’ as Singh had a 'very tight schedule'.

The ruling Congress could not table a constitutional amendment in the Parliament needed to ratify the long pending ‘Land Boundary Agreement’ amid opposition from the Trinamul Congress and the Asom Gana Parishad.

But, the report says, India fears the deadlock in Parliament could hurt relations with Bangladesh beyond just the land agreement, that aims to swap inhabited enclaves that is embedded inside the territory of the other.

Hasina, who was invited by Singh to visit India this year, is now unlikely to make the trip ahead of national polls in Bangladesh where she was hoping to sell a done deal on the land pact with India to the voters, it says.

File Photo File Photo “We have no indication from Bangladesh that Prime Minister Hasina will be visiting,” a senior official told The Telegraph. “Quite frankly,” another official said, “it just doesn’t make sense for her to visit now that the Land Boundary Agreement isn’t going to see the light of day before elections in Bangladesh.”

Any weakening in ties with Dhaka would be a setback for New Delhi, which has invested heavily in its diplomacy with Bangladesh over the past five years that Hasina’s Awami League has been in power.

India has historically had better relations with the Awami League than with the opposition Bangladesh National Party of Begum Khaleda Zia.

The report says relations between the nations suffered when Zia was Prime Minister from 2003 to 2008, though New Delhi has tried to insulate its ties with Bangladesh from power shifts there by reaching out to both parties. Bangladesh goes to polls by early 2014.

Singh arrives in the US on September 25, but in Washington DC, and will hold a bilateral meeting with American President Barack Obama at the White House on September 26.

He leaves the next day for New York, where he is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly on September 28.

September 29, the only day Singh has for other bilateral meetings before he flies back to India, is also packed with appointments.

Singh is currently scheduled to meet his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the morning of September 29 — an appointment that is now clouded by tensions between the neighbours over the recent killing of five Indian soldiers along their Line of Control and ceasefire violations each nation has accused the other of.

“There’s a very small slit that’s available for a meeting with the Bangladesh Prime Minister,” an official emphasised, adding that Dhaka had not yet confirmed Hasina’s schedule for the US trip.

Many of the other world leaders are scheduled to speak at the UN General Assembly before September 28 and will leave the US before Singh can meet them for bilateral talks.

But Singh will be meeting most top leaders at the St Petersburg G-20 summit earlier in September itself, and will meet East Asian leaders at a meeting of the East Asia Summit in Brunei scheduled for October, officials said.

Bangladesh though, is neither a part of the G-20 nor is it a member of the East Asia Summit grouping, adding to the impetus behind efforts to fix a meeting between Singh and Hasina on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

 

[nair]

The problem with present government is that regional parties hold them to ransom most of the time... Here it is mamta.... some time it is Thalaivi

 

[idune]

since 1974, 40 years passed one excuse after another, enough said indian deception, period.

 

[damiendehorn]

Another, BS the LBA is dead. How exactly are they gonna "damage control" this? They have been stringing us along for forty years now, and Indians tell us how Chinese are untrustworthy, jes tell the truth for a change.

 

[livingdead]

Another, BS the LBA is dead. How exactly are they gonna "damage control" this? They have been stringing us along for forty years now, and Indians tell us how Chinese are untrustworthy, jes tell the truth for a change.

ok.. india cannot do it... as simple as that...
its near impossible to get a consensus on this

 

[damiendehorn]

ok.. india cannot do it... as simple as that...
its near impossible to get a consensus on this

That's all we want, can't do it or won't do, just say so.....not too frigin hard to do.

 

[livingdead]

That's all we want, can't do it or won't do, just say so.....not too frigin hard to do.

yes it is hard to do... if your party is not in power in that state... and in this case it involves multiple states...
besides bjp opposes it.

 

[damiendehorn]

yes it is hard to do... if your party is not in power in that state... and in this case it involves multiple states...
besides bjp opposes it.

So what your saying is the central government will promise this an that fully knowing the opposition will reject it and they will not have to implement it, nice trick.

 

[livingdead]

So what your saying is the central government will promise this an that fully knowing the opposition will reject it and they will not have to implement it, nice trick.

there are many reform bills which are stuck because of lack of majority of ruling coalition... boundary agreement will require higher % of vote I think due to constitutional amendment..
this is the best time to do( as AL in power) but I dont think congres can even think about it.. there are bigger things to worry about.

 

[damiendehorn]

there are many reform bills which are stuck because of lack of majority of ruling coalition... boundary agreement will require higher % of vote I think due to constitutional amendment..
this is the best time to do( as AL in power) but I dont think congres can even think about it.. there are bigger things to worry about.

Ok, let's see, how this is ever gonna be possible:

Say there is a BJP majority government, will they ever ratify the LBA, no don't think so considering they have rejected it outright.

Say there is a minority congress government, will they ever be able to ratify the LBA, no the opposition will always block it as is now.

Is there any prospect of a congress majority government that can carry the local state government, to amend the constitution, to ratify the LBA, no.

The thing is both congress and the bjp both know, this is never gonna happen and they play this game on and on. So what ever happens all we are going to get from is lie and damned lies....40 years of lies. Trust Indians, seriously you got to be kidding.

 

[damiendehorn]

The main point of this is there is no urgent demand in India to move forward with this. The AL put all their eggs in this basket of indian friendship and trust, they bent over backwards to appease india, like fools hunting all the rebels in Bangladesh to hand them over to India, now the basket has blown up and they are left with egg all over their face.

Don't get me wrong, I am not blaming the Indians, I am blaming our government that they can actually trust Indians, telling us that they are good neighbours that this time its different and they will fulfil their commitments, when they have shown for the last 40 years how untrustworthy they are. With the elections coming next year the AL are desperate to save face, idiots, how long does it take to learn the truth.

 

[livingdead]

Ok, let's see, how this is ever gonna be possible:

Say there is a BJP majority government, will they ever ratify the LBA, no don't think so considering they have rejected it outright.

Say there is a minority congress government, will they ever be able to ratify the LBA, no the opposition will always block it as is now.

Is there any prospect of a congress majority government that can carry the local state government, to amend the constitution, to ratify the LBA, no.

The thing is both congress and the bjp both know, this is never gonna happen and they play this game on and on. So what ever happens all we are going to get from is lie and damned lies....40 years of lies. Trust Indians, seriously you got to be kidding.

well.. I dont understand why you think its something we owe to bd, I mean we will gain as much as you would, so what promise are you talking about?

 

[damiendehorn]

well.. I dont understand why you think its something we owe to bd, I mean we will gain as much as you would, so what promise are you talking about?

It's not about owing, it's about honouring your word, fulfilling your agreements, end of the day if you cannot do what you say you will then how do you expect us to trust you? How long have we been hearing you Indians tell us to be patient, that all our differences will be sorted out soon?

We've waited 40 years an counting, the idiots that believed and trusted your nation are looking like complete fools. It's a lesson to all future Bangladeshi governments never and I mean never put your faith on Indians.

Indian word either has some value or it has none, your choice.

 

[GR!FF!N]

@damiendehorn

look,to reform the border,we need to reform our constitution..unless we get a higher percentage of vote in its favor,we can't do that..now,this new bill will hurt states like West Bengal and Assam as they'll have to give a huge amount of land(which virtually under their control) to Bangladesh..so,its understandable that they'll object..UPA govt was foolish as they didn't properly discuss this matter to regional parties on this and presented it..so,no wonder it'll get stuck..we too have thousands of people there who suffer everyday..don't you think that we want this too??they why we would want to present it again and again??but unless we get it passed,it'll stuck..be it 40 years,or 400 years,there is no way of getting out..India isn't a small country like Bangladesh..so,its tough to get a bill passed..

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

@damiendehorn

look,to reform the border,we need to reform our constitution..unless we get a higher percentage of vote in its favor,we can't do that..now,this new bill will hurt states like West Bengal and Assam as they'll have to give a huge amount of land(which virtually under their control) to Bangladesh..so,its understandable that they'll object..UPA govt was foolish as they didn't properly discuss this matter to regional parties on this and presented it..so,no wonder it'll get stuck..we too have thousands of people there who suffer everyday..don't you think that we want this too??they why we would want to present it again and again??but unless we get it passed,it'll stuck..be it 40 years,or 400 years,there is no way of getting out..India isn't a small country like Bangladesh..so,its tough to get a bill passed..

Assam and West Bengal wont have to give any land as the land we are talking about are already inside Bangladesh.