Dhaka for settling 3 prickly issues

Dhaka for settling 3 prickly issues
Foreign secy level / talks with Pakistan

Thursday, 28 October 2010
The Independent
ANIS ALAMGIR


Dhaka likes to end three pronged historic hassle with Islamabad which has always dominated the agenda for their bilateral meetings since Bangladesh’s independence in 1971 from Pakistan after a nine-month long war.

A top foreign ministry official yesterday said, repatriation of stranded Pakistanis, sharing of common assets, and unconditional apology from Pakistan for its atrocities in 1971- are the three issues which would be given most emphasis from Bangladesh side at the next foreign secretary level meeting between the two countries.
The fifth annual consultation meeting will be held in Islamabad on next November 1 and 2, after a gap of three years to ease and expedite the bilateral relations. Last such meeting was held in Dhaka in 2007.
Ahead of that meeting, an inter-ministerial meeting was held Tuesday at the foreign ministry with its secretary Mijarul Quayes in the chair. Officials from liberation war, disaster management, commerce and foreign ministries attended the meeting.
The meeting sources said, besides historical issues, some others common bilateral issues would also come up at the next month’s meeting.
Sources said, both the countries were interested in establishing direct shipping link between Chittagong and Karachi, which had remained disrupted after the war. They are also interested in increasing flights on Dhaka- Karachi route. Presently five PIA and three Biman flights are flying on the route.
Dhaka will also demand duty-free access for some Bangladeshi goods, reduction of jute export duty and lessening of negative list of Bangladeshi products for Pakistani market.
After the war, Bangladesh claimed that it deserved a share of the US$4 billion worth of pre-independence foreign exchange, bank credit, and movable assets protected in West Pakistan during the war.
In a 1975 agreement, Bangladesh accepted half of Pakistan’s pre-1971 external debts, but asset sharing issues remained unresolved.
The second issue concerning the emigration of large numbers of people, mostly Biharis (non-Bengali Muslims), to Pakistan. After the war, the International Red Cross registered nearly 540,000 people who wanted to emigrate to Pakistan. During Nawaz Sharif’s regime a few thousand Biharis had been repatriated, leaving behind about 250,000 people.
Pakistan government rejected Bangladesh demand for apology over 1971 atrocities asking Dhaka to move ahead with ties instead of getting 'frozen in time' though its civil society still stands beside Bangladesh.