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Morshed blasts Delhi for 'unfair trade'

Says Dhaka too can retaliate

Staff Correspondent
Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan yesterday fired a broadside at Delhi for what he said was restricting imports of Bangladeshi goods into India to keep the balance of trade in its favour, despite repeated calls for an 'equitable bilateral trade'.
"Dhaka too is capable of taking similar restrictive steps against Indian goods to arrive at a 'win-win' situation," Morshed warned while speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural session of an 'India-Bangladesh Dialogue of Young Journalists' organised by Bangladesh Enterprise Institute
(BEI) at its office in the city.
In presence of Indian High Commissioner Veena Sikri, the foreign minister said, "If Dhaka wanted to establish a win-win situation, we could end India's $3 billion trade here by issuing an SRO [Statutory Regulatory Order] on all Indian goods entering Bangladesh."
Turning to a different direction, Morshed lambasted India for overcriticism saying if the larger neighbour of Bangladesh continues to blame it for things across the spectrum, future bilateral discussions would be in jeopardy.
"Stop talking through the media
and talk straight to us," he told the Indian government, adding, "We don't do politics within the family, and South Asia is our family. It's very important to discuss the issues across the table instead of hiding those under the carpet."
Speaking on the August 21 grenade attacks Morshed said, "Most countries said it was an attack on the country's democracy and phoned to both the prime minister and the opposition leader. But," in an oblique reference to India, he said, "Some people thought it otherwise." "I don't want any more misconception like that arisen from a neighbouring country conversing with a particular party but not the nation as a whole," the foreign minister pronounced, adding, "the responsibility of eradicating that misconception rests with the neighbours themselves."
ON TRADE BARRIERS
Expressing disappointment that although Bangladesh has opened up its market to India in the spirit of Saarc [South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation], the Bangladesh foreign minister said, "Unfortunately, it was not reciprocated."
He reminded Delhi that although 'Bangladesh is India-locked, Delhi also has to remember that the seven north-eastern Indian states are also Bangladesh-locked."
"It costs 40 percent more for the north-eastern Indian states to purchase most construction goods from Kolkata or other western cities than it would cost them to buy those from Bangladesh," he pointed out.
Morshed blasted the central bank of India for acting unilaterally against the interests of the common people of the north-eastern states by imposing non-tariff barriers, such as not allowing individual states to open letters of credit (LCs) without permission from Delhi.
"I hope they realise that in today's world imposing non-tariff barriers are against the emancipation of the masses," the minister said, adding, "The time has come to learn realities."
Mentioning that Dhaka still awaits on promises made by Delhi 10 years ago, Morshed reiterated Dhaka's concern over India's reluctance to allow greater Bangladeshi goods across the border.
ON SECURITY
On incidents following the August 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Dhaka, Morshed said without reference, "The blame game won't help any country, be it big or small," adding,
"If the blame game is not stopped, no further discussion will take place."
On Indian allegation that 195 camps of Indian insurgents exist in Bangladesh's territory, the foreign minister said, "The list of insurgent camps from their side increases at every meeting between us. But they have not been able to provide a single telephone number or address of these camps."
"On the other hand," he blamed the Indian government, saying, "we have given phone numbers, fax numbers and office addresses of Bangladeshi insurgent groups like Bangabhumi Andolon, who are in India, and criminals who are hosted by some groups there, but they have not done anything about it."
He dismissed the Indian claims of terrorist presence in Bangladesh, saying, "No country other than a banana republic would shut its eyes if there were terrorists in its territory."
He also accused India of offering discussions on border issues only after creating the issues in the first place.
ON WATER SHARING
Morshed also stressed that Bangladesh would trade its 20,000 cubic metres of water per person with India's 2,000 cubic metres per person only if India would allow water to flow down to Bangladesh when it is required the most.
Agreeing that regional cooperation in water sharing is very important, he however observed that if India unilaterally opens its sluice gates to allow floodwaters to roll down through Bangladesh it would harm both the sides.
Indian High Commissioner Sikri, the acting British high commissioner and eminent Indian columnist Kuldip Nayar also spoke on the occasion.