India weighing options to get Bangla moving

With attacks across Assam and Nagaland prompting demands that Bangladesh be told to dismantle camps of North East militants on its territory...

With attacks across Assam and Nagaland prompting demands that Bangladesh be told to dismantle camps of North East militants on its territory, New Delhi has begun looking at the options it has to mount greater pressure on Dhaka.

Officials indicated that the Government may not stop Bangladesh Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan from travelling to India later this month because it offers an opportunity to send the message across.

Khan’s exact itinerary has not yet been finalised — he will be here to extend an invitation for the SAARC summit in Dhaka in January — with Bangladesh proposing three sets of dates for the trip.

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The presence of militants on Bangladeshi soil was also taken up at the recent meeting of BSF and BDR. Prior to that, Home Secretary Dhirendra Singh had travelled to Dhaka.

Bangladesh continues to stick to its position that it has been unable to trace militant camps. There is, however, a view that India must utilise its diplomatic leverage to get Bangladesh to act against the 194 militant camps. In this context, deferring the decision to extend a Rs 100-crore credit line for railway projects in Bangladesh is under consideration. Also being discussed are other Indian investments in Bangladesh.

Official sources said that one effective way out could be tightening visa controls. But they pointed out that this isn’t easy since the Home Ministry and affected states have also not responded adequately to the problem of illegal immigration from Bangladesh.

In terms of bilateral cooperation, sources pointed out that the deteriorating trend in Indo-Bangla ties has not helped recent interaction. Therefore, the other option could be to go slow on Dhaka’s demand that India do away with controls to facilitate growth of Bangladeshi exports.

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