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May 2, 2001

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Hasina stands by Indira-Mujib accord

With Bangladesh responding positively to an offer for talks by India on the border row, Premier Sheikh Hasina Wajed has said all border-related issues could be resolved on the basis of the Indira-Mujib Accord of 1974.

"The two countries will soon have a taskforce to resolve the problem on the border," Hasina said at a workers' rally on May Day in the southern Chittagong town.

Hasina, who is under attack by the opposition for "surrendering to India", said her government was able to quickly restore peace after the recent clashes along the border, the worst in last 30 years claiming 16 Border Security Force personnel and three Bangladesh Rifles personnel.

Hasina also hit out at Bangladesh Nationalist Party chief and former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia and her slain husband, former military ruler Zia-ur-Rehman, for "doing nothing to resolve the border issue with India when they were in power".

"The national frontier is not safe in the hands of a subservient government," Zia had told a public rally on Tuesday.

In her most virulent attack on Hasina, Zia accused her of pandering to the Indian Government.

Criticising the BDR's withdrawal from Padua, allegedly under Indian pressure, Zia accused Hasina of "violating her oath" as prime minister, which was to protect the country's sovereignty.

"BDR men recovered Padua after 30 years, but the subservient government handed it over to the Indian BSF, bowing down to India," Zia said.

Hasina said that after coming to power her government succeeded in reducing the un-demarcated border with India from 154 km to only six-and-a-half km.

Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad Tuesday told Indian High Commissioner Monilal Tripathy that speedy implementation of the 1974 accord would help defuse tension along the border and help maintain good neighbourly relations between India and Bangladesh.

United States Ambassador to Bangladesh Mary Ann Peters, meanwhile, told reporters on Wednesday that the foreign media lauded the efforts of Dhaka and New Delhi to quickly resolve the border row.

PTI

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