DHAKA, Dec 24 — Bangladesh has denied Indian charge of the existence of terrorist camps within its territory, terming it as “baseless”, according to a media report, reports PTI. “The government of Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia after a thorough and detailed investigation has intimated Delhi that there was no truth to the charge made by India,” vernacular newspaper The Daily Jugantor said today.
Quoting officials, it said “the door is open for any diplomat to verify what the government insists (that there is no terrorist camp). This is for the first time that investigations were carried out separately by various agencies of the government including Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), DGFI, NSIMI (intelligence agencies) and the Home Ministry and that Indian allegations were found to be baseless.”
“We gave topmost priority to Indian allegations and several agencies investigated the matter,” Bangladesh Rifle’s DG Major General Rezzakul Haider told the paper. Haider, who led border talks between the two countries in Delhi in October, said “when the list (of the terrorist camps) was handed to us, we stated at that time that there was no basis of such allegation.” Save Cox Bazaar and Tangail, all the other eight Bangladeshi districts which have been described by India to house terrorist camps border Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Commerce Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, who recently visited India, brushed aside reports in a section of Indian media that Dhaka was ready to fulfill Delhi’s “wish list”, including transit facility and access to Chittagong port if Bangladeshi products were allowed zero tariff access to Indian markets. The Minister said he was being misquoted, adding “I did not say anything like that,” The Daily Star reported today. The Minister went to Kolkata on December 19 in connection with a trade fair where Bangladeshi entrepreneurs took part. Bangladesh Finance Minister Saifur Rahman earlier this month ruled out giving out transit and trans-shipment facilities to India. He said the country’s “entire road transport system will collapse within three months if the facilities are provided.”