State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat on Monday accused BNP of spreading propaganda and falsehood over the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Bangladesh and India recently.
“BNP is spreading propaganda and falsehood over the MoU without reading and understanding all of its clauses…The party is misleading people by partially presenting some clauses of the agreement,” he told media here.
The state minister made the remarks while addressing a press briefing at his ministry’s conference room in response to BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir’s recent remarks on the MoU signed during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s recent India visit.
Noting that Bangladesh’s recent MoU with India is not a subservient foreign policy of the government in anyway but it is beneficial for both the friendly countries, he said BNP is spreading propaganda claiming that if Indian trains run through Bangladesh, it will create a security risk here, which is not right at all.
In this connection, he said the Clause-3 of the MoU clearly stated that ‘red traffic’ like dangerous and objectionable goods, including arms, ammunition and explosives, cannot be transported in the train.
Besides, the Clause-4 of the agreement also stated that the movement of goods and people between Bangladesh and India shall be subjected to the national laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the respective countries, he added.
But, he said, BNP never says that Bangladeshi trains will also run via India to Nepal and Bhutan, while trains from Nepal and Bhutan will come to Bangladesh through India and use Mongla and Chattogram sea ports instead of Kolkata port.
They (BNP leaders) do not say that Bangladesh will import 40 MW of electricity from Nepal using Indian transmission lines through its internal power grid, the state minister said.
The seven new MoUs include MoU on the Field of Blue Economy and Maritime Cooperation in the Bay of Bengal and India Ocean Region; MoU between Bangladesh Oceanographic Research Institute (BORI) and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) of India for Joint Research on Oceanography of the Indian Ocean and Capacity Building; MoU on Rail Connectivity; and two separate shared vision of India Bangladesh Digital Partnership and shared vision of India Bangladesh Green Partnership for a Sustainable Future.
Besides, MoU between Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACE) and Department of Space, Government of the Republic of India and Ministry of Posts, Telecommunication and Information Technology, Government of Bangladesh was also signed for Collaboration on a Joint Small Satellite Project.
A MoU between DSSC, Wellington and DSCSC Mirpur for cooperation concerning military education in the field of strategic and operational studies was also signed.
Three MoUs related to cooperation in the field of fisheries, disaster management; and health and medicine were also renewed.
