Dhaka’s Advisers Sow Confusion On India-Bangla Pacts
On October 19 night, Adviser (Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives) of the Bangladesh interim government Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain posted on Facebook a list of 10 agreements, calling them ‘cancelled.’
Kolkata: Contradictory positions taken by two advisors, holding ministerial positions, in the interim government in Bangladesh about the cancellation of 10 Indo-Bangladesh agreements, triggered confusion in diplomatic circles of both the countries.
On Sunday, Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain, who is adviser on local government, rural development and co-operatives of the Bangladesh interim government, in a post on Facebook provided a list of 10 agreements that he called ‘cancelled.’
He wrote, “A discussion started about these projects right after the interim government took office and this decision has been taken after a proper review.” All of the ten deals, which Bhuiyan claimed to have been scrapped, were finalised between 2016 and 2024 during former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s regime.
According to Bhuyain’s post, the deals cancelled include Tripura-Chittagong Railway network (2017), Abhoypur-Akhaura Railway Expansion (2018), Ashuganj-Agartala Corridor (2016), Feni River Water Management (2019), Road and Waterways Development linked to Port utility (2018), Bangladeshi Financial Cooperation Proposal about Farakka Barrage (2023), Sylhet-Silchar Link (2020), Petroleum Pipeline Expansion (2019), Mirsarai & Mongla Indian Economic Zone (2019) and Tug Boat deal with Indian defence company GRSE.
However, foreign affairs adviser Md Touhid Hossain declined to comment on the post, according to many Bangladeshi media outlets. A spokesperson of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, the Bangladesh media claimed, indicated that no formal communication was made to New Delhi.
On Tuesday evening, Bangladesh foreign adviser Hossain rejected his colleague’s claims on the cancellation. He said that only one Indian line of credit on the GRSE deal was cancelled earlier.
"The list, which came out, was provided and circulated by someone. It was probably retweeted by an adviser with his comment. I do not want to comment on it. He could have possibly avoided doing it. The list is not correct. Most of the agreements on that list do not exist. A few of the remaining ones are at various stages and are not exactly by that name. They have a different description," Hossain explained.
