Land pact: Centre may seek House approval

The government is likely to seek Parliament nod for implementation of India-Bangladesh land boundary agreement in the coming Monsoon Session of Parliament. New Delhi has conveyed this to Dhaka during the home secretary-level talks held here on Friday that a constitution amendment bill for implementation of the India-Bangladesh land boundary agreement is likely to be introduced in the forthcoming Parliament Session. Through the constitutional amendment bill, India seeks to ratify the 1974 Indira-Mujib pact for demarcation of boundaries and for exchange of 161 adversely-held enclaves with a population of about 50,000 people, sources said. While the Bangladesh Parliament has already approved the land boundary deal, India needs to introduce a constitutional amendment bill because its implementation involves territory swap. The approval of land boundary accord has been hanging fire because the government lacks the two-thirds majority in Parliament for its passage. Sources said that during the talks, both sides also discussed the modalities for implementation of the extradition treaty signed by both the countries early this year which will pave way for deportation of Ulfa “general secretary” Anup Chetia, currently lodged in a Bangladeshi jail. “We are taking forward the dialogue from where we left off. Constant cooperation between India and Bangaldesh is going on,” Bangladesh’s high commissioner to India Tariq A. Karim, who took part in the meeting, told reporters. Asked when Chetia will be deported, Mr Karim said, “the process is on. When it will happen, it will happen”.