Body of BSF victim found

Locals on Tuesday recovered from the bank of the Padma river the body of 22-year old man who was tortured by the Indian

Border Security  Force.

They recovered  Saddam Hossain Babu’s body from the bank of Padma at Arairashia,  bordering Paka-Naryanpur in Chapainawabganj

district.

Son of Mortuza Ali, the latest victim of BSF  came from Shingnagar Panditpara, a village in Monakasha union of  Shibganj upazila in

the district of Chapainawabganj.

Saddam’s family said that he had been missing for 20 days as the BSF detained him.

They said that BSF tortured him to death and dumped his body into the river.

BGB commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Jahangir Hossain said that BGB would take up the issue.

Saddam’s family and neighbours said a local fisherman recovered the body from the char at around 1:30pm.

Atiqur Rahman, cousin of Saddam, said his body bore several marks of injury.

He said that Saddam’s hands were tied and his throat was fixed with a cable.

Atiq said that BSF personnel at Doulatpur BSF camp had picked up Saddam from  Shingnagar frontier near pillar No 70 early nin the morning of

January 4, when he was on his way to India for buying cattle.

‘We informed local Shingnagar BOP of BGB, but they could not rescue him,’ he said.

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Mamata now opposes enclave exchange

After the Teesta water-sharing issue, Paschimbanga chief minister Mamata Banerjee has taken stance against a Dhaka-Delhi agreement to resolve the long-pending issue of exchanging enclaves held in adverse possessions, reports Indian newspaper Anandabazar Patrika.

The Indian parliament is yet to ratify the landmark agreement, signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Dhaka in September last year, on enclave exchange largely due to the absence of a consensus on the issue, the newspaper said quoting official sources.

Efforts are now on to secure Mamata’s consent on the agreement on exchange of enclaves that would help bring down the curtains on a major irritant that has been there in India-Bangladesh ties since 1974, our New Delhi correspondent reports.

Just prior to the Indian PM’s arrival in Dhaka on September 6, Mamata Banerjee took stand against the Teesta water-sharing deal which was almost set to be signed during Manmohan’s visit.

Manmohan had to backtrack from translating the long cherished dream into reality, putting a strain in the bilateral relations. 

The opposition of Mamata-led Trinamool Congress, a key ally of India’s ruling UPA coalition government, would further create frustration to people living on both sides of the border as the Indira-Mujib accord on the issue had remained unimplemented all these decades.

Since Mamata’s objections prevented the signing of Teesta river water-sharing accord in September last, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is not willing to go ahead with the ratification of the deal on exchange of enclaves without a consensus, Anandabazar Patrika said in the front-page report.

Main opposition BJP too has opposed the agreement signed by the two countries on exchange of enclaves.

The agreement on exchange of enclaves stipulates that the people residing in the enclaves would have the option to choose either India or Bangladeshi nationalities as per their will.

Opposing this, BJP said along with exchange of enclaves, there should be exchange of population irrespective of the wishes of the people residing there, the daily said. Given all this, India is proceeding cautiously on the exchange of enclaves, the report added.

The newspaper quoted an unnamed Indian External Affairs Ministry official saying, “We are optimistic. We are committed to an international treaty. We will get around the small stumbling blocks and take the next step.” 

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