Hacked  By  r4dBlack

DHAKA: A busy schedule is on the cards for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during her official visit to India later this month. Sheikh Hasina will meet with the top Indian leadership and she is likely to visit the information technology hubs Bangalore and Hyderabad. The prime minister will also make a personal trip to Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan and she will travel to Kolkata to pay a courtesy call on Communist Party member, Jyoti Basu, who was Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1977 until 2000.

She will also meet with Indian National Congress member Siddhartha Shankar Roy, who was Chief Minister of West Bengal during the Liberation War.

Hasina will express her gratitude to the veteran leaders, who are both in their 90s and suffering weak health, for their support during the Liberation War.

Hasina will also visit Visva Bharati University in Santiniketan, as it attracts a large number of Bangladeshi students.

A meeting may also take place with Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, who are both members of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.

While the Indian government is keen for Hasina to visit Bangalore and Hyderabad, official sources in Bangladesh said that the prime minister must have ample time to meet with leaders in Delhi.

Meanwhile, the three-day home secretary-level talks between Bangladesh and India finalised three key agreements yesterday.

The draft agreements on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, transfer of sentenced persons and bilateral agreement on combating international terrorism, organised crime and illicit drug trafficking will be signed during Sheikh Hasina's three-day visit to India from December 18.

A joint statement issued at the end of the meeting said both sides agreed to develop mechanisms to further hasten the process of verification of nationality status of prisoners lodged in jails of either country, particularly of those who have completed their sentence, to enable their early repatriation," Bangladesh Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder told reporters here.

Asked about reports of militants setting up bases in Bangladesh, Sikder said his country did not harbour any elements inimical to India.

To a question about the possibility of launching joint operations against militants, Indian Home Secretary Gopal Krishna Pillai said, "No such discussion had taken place during the talks".

Both India and Bangladesh reaffirmed their resolve to take immediate action on the basis of real time and actionable information and agreed to redouble efforts to locate persons against whom the Interpol issued Red Corner Notices in either country for their arrest.

The Indian side expressed its concern over smuggling of fake Indian currencies into the country and sought Bangladesh's cooperation for preventing such activities.

Both sides agreed that there was a need to expedite the settlement of land boundary related issues and it was agreed that these would be discussed in the next meeting of the Joint Border Working Group.

They recognised the need for electrification of Dahagram and Angarpota enclaves along the Indo-Bangla border as a humanitarian gesture.

The two sides noted the menace of trafficking of women and children along Indo-Bangladesh border and agreed to designate nodal points on both sides for coordinated action.

The two sides welcomed the holding of the first DG-level talks between the Narcotic Control Bureau of India and Department of Narcotics Control in Bangladesh and reiterated the need for further enhancing cooperation including in capacity building of the two agencies.

The next home secretary-level talks would be held in Dhaka, the date for which would be decided through diplomatic channels.