Terror to top B'desh PM's India visit
Terror to top B'desh PM's India visit
Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia was due to arrive in India on Monday with terrorism and trade topping the agenda of her three-day visit.

New Delhi: Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia was due to arrive in India on Monday with terrorism and trade topping the agenda of her three-day visit.

During the visit Zia will meet President Abdul Kalam and the chief of Congress party Sonia Gandhi as well as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

India says militant groups associated with a number of insurgencies in its northeast operate from bases in Bangladesh, a charge Dhaka denies.

An agreement on the prevention of drug trafficking could be signed during the visit.

Ahead of the visit, Bangladeshi foreign ministry spokesman Zahirul Haq said in Dhaka that "cross-border terrorism, security, trade, transport linkages and water sharing of common rivers" would be on the table.

Bangladesh is committed to wiping out extremist elements and would not allow its territory as a base for waging insurgencies against India.

India earlier expressed concern about a rise in militancy in Bangladesh and last year boosted border troop numbers to stop "infiltration" by militants.

Concerns deepened after 434 synchronised blasts, allegedly set by the little known group Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), detonated across Bangladesh last August.

The Bangladesh government, a four-party Islamist-allied coalition, last year admitted that it had woken up late to the threat posed by the militants and vowed to root them out.

Major donors to Bangladesh including the US, the European Union and Britain have praised a crackdown on the JMB that saw more than 900 militants arrested in seven months.

India has yet to comment but analysts said Zia was expected to extract maximum mileage from the crackdown during her visit.

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