Bangladesh says will not allow terrorists to use its land against India

Dhaka, Feb.9 (ANI): The newly elected Sheikh Hasina government has reassured India that it will not allow its territory to be used for spreading terror in India.

Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni told reporters here: "They (terrorists) don't have any borders, don't have any religion. They don't have any nationality, they are terrorists, and, whoever tries to use our territory to harm anyone, we will put a stop to it and be vigilant."

Moni held extensive discussions with her Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee on the issue of terrorism during his day-long visit to Dhaka.

"If concrete information is provided to us, then we will take action against terrorists operating on our soil," Moni said.

This reassurance from Dhaka comes as India continues to bear the brunt of terrorism emanating from its eastern and western neighborhood.

Over the years, the Bangladesh-based HUJI in alleged connivance with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, has orchestrated a series of attacks on Indian soil.

The most recent attack were the blasts in Assam in which over 65 people were killed.

According to the Indian Home Ministry, there are more than 100 terrorist training camps that are still actively operating from Bangladeshi soil, fuelling insurgency in India's North East and elsewhere.

These fundamentalist forces thrived under the previous Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led coalition regime headed by former Prime Minister Khaleeda Zia.

Discussions on proposed South Asia joint task force to counter terrorism also took place. It may be recalled that such a proposal was mooted by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina following last year's terror attacks in Mumbai.

Mukherjee affirmed that such a discussion took place with Foreign Minister Moni.

"Of course, we discussed the concept of regional architecture. There is no conflict between the regional architecture and within the regional architecture, the bilateral architecture. What is more important is the sincerity to fight against the menace of terrorism," said Mukherjee.

He further said " What is more important is the sincerity to fight against the menace of terrorism. It can be achieved if we have bilateral mechanism, if we have regional mechanism, or a global mechanism".

"But if there is inability, incapability or unwillingness to tackle with the problem and fight against terrorism as a global issue, then the problem comes," he added.

No headway was made on the transit issue which remains a very sensitive political Issue in Bangladesh.

However India and Bangladesh also signed two agreements to further strengthen the framework of trade and investment between the two countries.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Bangladesh Commerce Minister Mohammad Farukh Khan signed the Trade Agreement to further boost bilateral trade which amounted to USD 3.631 billion for 2007-08.

Mukherjee and Bangladesh Industry Minister Dilip Barua inked the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement which is expected to help a large number of Indian firms working on various turnkey projects here. By Naveen Kapoor (ANI)