BANGLADESH

Bangladesh and India are said to have made progress in the negotiation for a bilateral extradition treaty and the neighbours hope to finalise a draft by early next year.

Home secretary Monzur Hussain and his Indian counterpart R K Singh on Saturday reviewed the progress on the negotiation for the proposed extradition treaty and are understood to have agreed to expedite the process to complete the legal framework for bilateral security cooperation.

Hussain and Singh are leading the delegations of Bangladesh and India, respectively, in the 12th round of home secretary-level parleys, which commenced in New Delhi on Saturday. Although two sides agreed to move faster on the proposed extradition treaty, reported excesses by the personnel of India's Border Security Force continued to be a sticky point.

Sources in Indian government said that Hussain drew Singh's attention to the latest incident of killing of a Bangladeshi citizen by the BSF soldiers at the borders.

Hussain is also understood to have reminded Singh that Indian home minister P Chidambaram had said in Dhaka last July that the BSF had been asked to exercise restraint.

A Bangladeshi citizen was shot dead by the BSF soldiers at Shingnogor adjoining the borders. The Border Guards Bangladesh sent a protest letter to the BSF.

The two-day talks between the home secretaries will conclude on Sunday.

An official statement from the India's ministry of home affairs said "security and border management, police-to-police co-operation in capacity building and training" were among the major issues on the agenda of the talks between Hussain and Singh.

After the first day's talks on Saturday, Hussain said the parleys were taking place in a very cordial atmosphere. Singh echoed him and added that both the countries would continue strengthening bilateral security co-operation in keeping with the friendly ties.

On the issue of extradition of jailed Indian insurgent leader Anup Chetia, who served a jail-term after being arrested in Bangladesh in 1997, Singh said a judicial process was on in Bangladesh for the handover of the ULFA leader.

On Friday, Hussain had called on Indian home minister P Chidambaram and foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai. The Bangladesh-India Joint Working Group on Security also had a meeting the same day to prepare ground for the home secretary-level talks.

The Bangladesh side is likely to once again seek India's assistance in finding Abdul Majed and Moslehuddin, who were convicted of killing Banbabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman and his family in 1975, but have since been escaping the noose.

Chidambaram had said in Dhaka in July that the two fugitives could be in India and Indian government would take all possible steps to find them and hand over to the authorities in Bangladesh. The Indian home minister had made the remark after a meeting with his Bangladesh counterpart Shahara Khatun.

Sources said Bangladesh and India had on Friday exchanged lists of fugitives both suspect are hiding in each other's territory. Dhaka would particularly stress on cooperation with Indian agencies to find terrorists responsible for the 2004 grenade attack that had killed 24 people and left many injured.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was then leading the opposition, was among the injured and the dead included president Zillur Rahman's wife Ivy Rahman.

Indian government officials said that the two home secretaries would review implementation of the agreements on Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters, Transfer of Sentenced Persons, and Combating International Terrorism, Organised Crime and Illicit Drug Trafficking, which were signed during Hasina's landmark visit to New Delhi in Jan 2010.

They would also discuss progress in implementation of the deal the two countries clinched to settle the land boundary disputes during Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Bangladesh in September.

A senior official at the India's home ministry said Singh would flag New Delhi's concerns on links between extremist organisations of both the countries, as revealed by the arrest of the Kashmiri youth, who was studying in a medical college in Bangladesh, in connection with the Sept 7 blast in front of the Delhi High Court.

Following a tacit cooperation between the security agencies of Bangladesh and India, in 2009 and 2010, a number of top leaders of insurgent organisations active in northeastern Indian states of Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Manipur had landed in the custody of the law-enforcing agencies of India. New Delhi appreciated the cooperation from Dhaka in international forums.

In his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Sep 24, Manmohan had termed the security cooperation between his country and Bangladesh as an example.

"In South Asia, there are encouraging signs of cooperation in the area of security, as exemplified in India's growing cooperation with Bangladesh. This cooperation is adding to the security of both our countries," he had said.

Foreign minister Dipu Moni has said the Teesta water-sharing deal will be signed with neighbouring India 'shortly'.

Referring to her meeting with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, she told reporters in Chandpur Sadar Upazila on Saturday, "In the meeting Mamata told me that she also wanted Bangladeshis to get their share of Teesta waters. She also expressed her interest about the agreement."

Dipu Moni met Mamata on Wednesday evening in Kolkata on her way back to Dhaka, after attending a regional conference in India.

After the meeting, Mamata told reporters that the Teesta water-sharing deal would be signed ensuring the interests of her state and Bangladesh.

The agreement between Dhaka and Delhi ran into troubled waters after Mamata backed out of a visit to Dhaka with India prime minister Manmohan Singh in early September.

She was reportedly upset that the final draft of pact that was to be signed during the high-profile Dhaka visit was not shown to her.

Later, Indian foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai made it clear that no agreement will be signed without the state's consent.

Bangladesh retaliated by postponing the signing of a crucial deal on the cross-border transit that would have allowed India to use Bangladesh's southern seaports of Chittagong and Mongla.

The botched deal kicked up a storm in both Bangladeshi and India media, with some calling into question India's sincerity in furthering bilateral ties.

Before leaving Dhaka, Manmohan said India's inability to sign the deal was 'unfortunate.' Two months later, on Nov 13 he said he wanted a 'national consensus' for a 'realistic' solution to the issue

"Signing the deal is a matter between the governments of the two neighbouring countries. The West Bengal government has a vital role in this regard since the river flows through West Bengal," she said at a function.

Dipu Moni earlier inaugurated the 'Mid-Day Meal' programme, to combat hunger, through distributing foods among the students of Raldia Government Primary School.

She also inaugurated a weeklong cooperative fair at the Chandpur Central Shaheed Minar premises.

The foreign ministry is in touch with its Indian counterpart on Tipaimukh dam, planned to be erected in the state of Manipur.

"Senior officials in the ministry of external affairs of India informed us that they would be able to provide further details on the issue once offices open on Monday," said director general of external publicity wing of the foreign ministry Shamim Ehsan on Saturday.

"We have seen the press release of National Hydropower Corporation of India dated Oct 24," he said adding, "The MEA has referred to the assurances given by India at the highest level in this regard."

The Manipur government has secretly struck an investment deal with a number of state-run organisations for setting up a controversial hydroelectric power plant and Tipaimukh dam on India's Borak River.

BBC said in a report that the agreement was signed on Oct 22 between the State Government of Manipur and hydro developers Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd and NHPC (formerly known as the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited) at New Delhi under major wraps.

The proposed project has sparked off debates in Bangladesh after India took initiative to build the dam.

Experts and rights activists have said Bangladesh would be adversely affected if the dam is built upstream.

Even in Manipur, rights groups have been campaigning against the scheme for years and demanded that the government scrap the plan.

The Liberal Democratic Party chief has said he is hopeful there will be a 'positive decision' on his party joining the four-party alliance.

"We will continue our movement against the government. At the next meeting of four-party alliance top leaders, I am hopeful there will be a positive decision on our inclusion," LDP president Oli Ahmed said on Saturday.

He said LDP district offices would now on coordinate with the alliance.

Oli Ahmed was speaking to reporters after a meeting with the alliance head and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan office.

BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, who also attended the meeting, said, "We have discussed LDP's inclusion into the alliance. But many top alliance leaders being in jail and second-rung leaders being unable to attend meetings for cases, a high-level meeting has failed to materialise.

"As soon as there is one, the LDP issue will be taken up, and a positive outcome is likely."

Oli said detailed discussions about the anti-government movement took place at the meeting.

"Without throwing this government out, peace and stability cannot be there in the country," he remarked.

BNP plans to celebrate the birthday of Tarique Rahman in style, streaming live the ceremony in his hometown Bogra, a party official said.

Tarique, son of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and party's senior vice chair, turns 45 on Sunday.

The daylong programme, at Tito auditorium in Bogra, would be webcast on bnplive.com, assistant office secretary Abdul Latif Jony told .

On Saturday midnight, several hundred activists turned up at party's Gulshan office to sing 'happy birthday' to Tarique as his mother was set to cut a huge cake in presence of senior colleagues at 12:01am.

The activists shouted "Shubho shubho shubho din, Tarique bhaier jonmodin" to shatter the silence in Dhaka's posh residential district in the middle of the night.