DHAKA, April 27: The parliamentary standing committee on home affairs at a camera meeting on Wednesday observed that Indo-Bangla relations have recently ‘reached near the lowest ebb’ and advised the government to gear up diplomatic efforts to improve relations with all neighbours, especially with India.

“We want an improved relationship with India,” Mahbubur Rahman, a member of the committee, told the press after a lengthy meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on the ministry of foreign affairs.

Presided over by the committee chairman, Ziaur Rahman Khan, the meeting in camera expressed concern over the continued skirmishes along the Indo-Bangla border and asked the authorities concern for immediate measures minimizing tension.

The lawmakers from both the ruling and the opposition told the meeting that the border tension is nothing new for Bangladesh, and in earlier cases they were resolved through negotiations at different levels.

But, this time aound, the tension seems to be persistent, and so far no effective negotiation took place although the government wants peaceful settlement of the border crisis.

‘Now, India is violating the 1975 border guideline and erecting barbed-wire fencing along over 4,000 kilometre boundary’, a ruling party lawmaker said pointing finger to government’s failure to negotiate the issue.