January 19, 2006	Thursday	Zilhaj 18, 1426

DHAKA, Jan 18: Bangladesh has rejected the perception that the present government is anti-India. The adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Reaz Rahman, reiterated Dhaka’s position of maintaining consistency in its external relations, including the one with New Delhi, while inaugurating the three-day ‘Bangladesh-India for Young Leaders’ here on Tuesday.

“Bangladesh has never supported any anti-Indian positions internationally. It has no position on the Kashmir issue. Bangladesh’s concerns have been mostly confined to its relations with India,” Reaz told the conference which was attended by politicians, academics and journalists of the two countries.

Veena Sikri, the Indian high commissioner, also addressed the session chaired by Farooq Sobhan, president of the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, which organized the three-day meet.

Reaz Rahman said Dhaka had tried to improve relations with New Delhi during the tenure of the present government which had not rescinded the Ganges Water-Sharing Treaty of 1996 or the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord of 1997 — two major agreements signed during the previous regime.

Reaz Rahman, however, pointed out that India, obsessed by its ambition to become an international actor, had tended to ignore and belittle pending issues with Bangladesh.