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Monday, December 12, 2011

Tipai Dam : Resistance at any cost

Building of Tipaimukh dam will have to be resisted by any means as it will affect Bangladesh badly, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said yesterday. 

He also blasted the foreign ministry for seeking an explanation from party Chairperson Khaleda Zia regarding her past role on the Tipaimukh issue.

“A director general of the foreign ministry has made an audacious statement. We would have replied even if the foreign minister had asked to explain. Khaleda Zia as prime minister wrote three letters to Indian premier for not building any dam at Tipaimukh,” he told a discussion meeting at the Jatiya Press Club.
The Tipaimukh dam will be like a time bomb for Bangladesh as at least three crore people will be affected by it, he mentioned quoting experts. 

Islamist outfit Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Bangladesh organised the meeting. 

Meanwhile, party Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi in a statement yesterday questioned how a department of the government could seek explanation from the leader of the opposition in parliament.
It is not only “unusual,” but also a conspiracy of the ruling party, he alleged.

He also claimed that no Awami League government so far has protested building of Tipaimukh dam in any meeting of Indo-Bangladesh Joint Rivers Commission (JRC). But BNP protested it twice in JRC meetings.

A foreign ministry statement on Friday explained the government's stance on the Tipaimukh project. It said though Khaleda Zia is protesting the dam now, she kept mum when she was at the helm of several previous governments.