Arafat accuses BNP of spreading propaganda over Bangladesh-India MoU

State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat today 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. (BSS)