Indian Army chief to visit Bangladesh

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Army chief to visit Bangladesh - The Times of India

NEW DELHI: Army chief General V K Singh will leave for Bangladesh on June 19 on a five-day visit to bolster bilateral defence cooperation, which will see a jump in joint exercises and training programmes.

Gen Singh, who as a young second lieutenant took part in the 1971 war to liberate Bangladesh, will call on President Mohammed Zillur Rahman and PM Sheikh Hasina as well as hold extensive talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart Gen Mohammed Abdul Mubeen, who had visited India last year.

India remains wary of China's deep strategic inroads into Bangladesh, which include a direct rail-road link to the port city of Chittagong as well as in help in constructing the Sonadia deep-sea port at Cox's Bazaar.

India, on its part, has actively worked towards bolstering ties with Bangladesh over the last three-four years, with one of the main objectives being the need for both countries to 'resolutely' tackle terrorism together.

India last year also held direct Army-to-Army staff talks with Bangladesh to chalk out the programmes to be undertaken by the two forces in the future. The importance of the talks can be gauged from the fact that India has similar staff talks with just a handful of countries, which include US, UK, Israel, France, Japan, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

 

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Indian Army chief to gift old Howitzer guns to Bangladesh News

New Delhi, June 16 (IANS) Forty years after he fought in the 1971 India-Pakistan war to liberate Bangladesh, Indian Army chief General V.K. Singh will be on a five-day visit to Dhaka beginning June 19 when he will gift three antique 3.7 Howitzers to that country's army as mementoes.

General Singh, who fought in the war as a freshly commissioned second lieutenant in the Rajput Regiment, will also present all required equipment for setting up a computer lab for the Bangladeshi armed forces apart from a rock-climbing wall, both for training purposes.

The gestures are part of India's and the army chief's efforts to take forward the growing defence relations between the South Asian neighbours, officers in the army headquarters here said Thursday.

'Bangladesh's first artillery battery called the Mujeeb Battery was formed with 3.7 inch Howitzers. India too used these several decades ago. Since Bangladesh wanted some guns for its legacy value and for perpetuating the Mujeeb Battery's memory and accomplishments, these guns are being gifted,' the officers said.

Gen. Singh, during the visit, will meet top government leaders, senior armed forces officers and will also attend the passing-out parade of two batches of the Bangladesh Military Academy in Chittagong during this visit.

Army officials said here that Singh will fly to Dhaka June 19 at the invitation of his Bangladeshi counterpart Gen Mohammed Abdul Mubeen.

Gen. Singh, who will be accompanied by his wife Bharti Singh and five senior army officers, will call on President Mohammed Zillur Rahman, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and also meet senior officers of the Bangladesh armed forces.

At Chittagong, he will be the chief guest at the passing-out parade of the 64th Long Course and the 35th Special Course of the Bangladesh Military Academy June 22. He will return to India June 23.

As India's eastern army commander based in Kolkata prior to taking over as the cheif of teh Indian Army, General Singh made special efforts to expand the military-to-military ties between India and Bangladesh