DHAKA: New Deputy High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Kolkata Zokey Ahad is “hopeful” that the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) will complete its usual round in Indian Parliament and “finally get settled.”

Talking to media persons, he also said: “Both countries are now confident, perhaps for the first time….hopeful that the Land Boundary Agreement will now materialize.”

While LBA was agreed upon in 2011 between Dhaka and Delhi, the ratification could not take place as many political parties opposed it.

BJP had argued that India will lose about 10,000 acres of land if the enclaves’ land with people from country are exchanged. It required a Constitutional Amendment to redraw the map of India and thus it was blocked at every level by the Opposition, including the BJP.

The same party, however, is now going out of its way to ratify the agreement, which was ratified by Bangladesh soon after it was signed in 1974.

Source: thehindu.com

BDST: 1336 HRS, DEC 04, 2014