Dhaka-bound Gogoi praises Hasina

Warming up for his visit to Bangladesh in the company of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on September 6 and 7, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday showered praise on Bangladesh Prime Minister Seikh Hasina and her government for being very helpful in evicting militants leaders of the northeast, including those from the United Liberation Front of Asom and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, which has been instrumental in containing insurgency in the state of late.

Talking to media in Guwahati on Friday afternoon, Gogoi commented that militancy would have remained hard to be contained and the economy continued to suffer if the leaders of the ULFA and the NDFB continued to enjoy shelter in Bangladesh.

"For that I have to appreciate the initiative of Bangladesh Prime Minister to root out shelters of militants leaders," he said.

"For me this will be a good opportunity to travel to Dhaka with the PM to develop contacts with those who matter in that country so that we can exploit those contacts in future to develop mutually beneficial economic and trade ties with the neighbouring country," Gogoi further said.

Gogoi also lauded the initiative taken by Dr Singh to take along with him to Dhaka five chief ministers of those states which have borders with Bangladesh.

"We want Bangladesh to prosper alongwith us because it helps a lot to have a prosperous neighbou than a having a trouble-torn one. Assam hopes for revival of all old communication routes through Bangladesh that were in vogue before partition. Those routes would be major boon for improving bilateral trade with Bangladesh and through Bangladesh with other countries."

Gogoi further hoped that the PM's visit to Dhaka would set the state for settlement of long-pending border dispute with Bangladesh in the light of Indira-Mujib Pact signed in 1974.

Reiterating that Assam looked forward for settlement of 'adversely possessed India' between the two countries, Gogoi said there was no question of compromising on Assam's interest.

He also said settlement of border dispute would facilitate completion of border fencing with Bangladesh. He pointed out that it was for the first time Bangladesh government had shown interest to settle the border dispute at the highest level.

The chief minister on Friday informed that security agencies in Assam were strictly monitoring efforts, if any, by Maoists to strike roots in the state. He informed that the Maoists managed to set up two frontal organisations in Assam -- Assam Students Youths Organisation and Chah Janjati Surakshya Samity.

However, top leaders of both the organisations were apprehended and they confessed to have gone for training under Maoists, Gogoi added.