Indo-Bangladesh Relations

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http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Bangla-Army-Chief-to-visit-Siachen/591305

Bangla Army Chief to visit Siachen

In a first, the Bangladesh Army Chief, who is on a five-day tour to India, will on Tuesday visit the disputed Siachen glacier and interact with troops at the highest battle ground in the world. Military leaders have in the past shied away from visiting the glacier — a source of a bitter boundary dispute between India and Pakistan.



General Mohd Abdul Mubeen will fly down to the Thoise air base and will be given a tour of the Siachen base camp and the Siachen battle school. While the Indian Army is in control of the glacier after it launched Operation Meghdoot in 1984, Pakistan has made several military and diplomatic attempts to gain possession of the area. General Mubeen’s visit to the glacier will be the latest in a series of steps over the past few years to send out signals to the international community that Siachen is an integral part of India.



In October 2008, US Army Chief General George Casey was given a tour of the glacier where he interacted with soldiers. Since 2007, India has given permissions for several international treks and expeditions in the region surrounding the glacier. A regular annual civilian trek on the heavily militarised glacier is also being conducted for the past three years.


General Mubeen’s visit, however, will be the first by a senior military leader from the Indian subcontinent. The General will fly down to Thoise, the airbase used as a logistics base for soldiers deployed on the glacier, in a special aircraft on Tuesday morning. He will then take a chopper ride to the Siachen base camp where he will interact with senior army officers and troops. He will also be given a tour of the Siachen battle school where troops undergo up to three months of intensive training for deployment on the glacier.

 

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Bangladesh, India eye stronger defence ties | Bangladesh | bdnews24.com

By bdnews24.com New Delhi correspondent

New Delhi, March 15 (bdnews24.com) – The Bangladesh and Indian army chiefs discussed greater defence cooperation during formal talks held in New Delhi on Monday.

Bangladesh army chief Gen. Md. Abdul Mubeen reached New Delhi on Sunday for a five-day tour at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Gen. Deepak Kapoor. It is Mubeen's first visit to India after taking over as army chief last year.

India's defence ministry officials termed the visit as "significant in the light of improving military cooperation between the two countries in consonance with India's growing relationship with Bangladesh".

Earlier in the day, Gen. Kapoor formally welcomed Gen. Mubeen during the Guard of Honour on the South Block Lawns in New Delhi. They later held talks.

A spokesman of the Indian defence ministry said the meeting between General Mubeen and General Kapoor focused on areas of future bilateral defence cooperation.

"Military-to-Military cooperation between Bangladesh and India encompasses exchange of high- and medium-level visits, availing of training courses in each other's institutions, witnessing of exercises by military observers from both sides, exchange of War Veterans and sharing experience in disaster management, sports and adventure activities," a press-release issued by the Ministry of Defence said.

During his stay in New Delhi, Gen. Mubeen will also meet the Indian defence minister AK Antony and National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon.

He is likely to visit important training establishments and field formations of the Indian Army. He will also travel to Jaipur, Ajmeer and Kolkata before returning to Dhaka.

Gen. Mubeen's visit to India comes just two months after chief of Indian Air Force Air Chief Marshal P V Naik had travelled to Bangladesh on a goodwill visit in January this year.

Mubeen is accompanied by his wife and senior officials of the Bangladesh Army.

 

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The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Frontpage | Army talks with Bangla

New Delhi, March 15: The Indian and Bangladeshi militaries are set to increase exchanges after the top brass from both sides met in Delhi during the Bangladesh army chief’s visit today and concluded that relations had improved vastly over the past three years.

An army source also said that talks with the visiting Bangladesh army chief, General Muhammad Abdul Mubeen, covered increased co-operation in dealing with insurgents who have been operating from camps near the border.

India’s effort to improve military relations with Bangladesh was stepped up since 2008. Part of the reason for the renewal of effort was a concern that Bangladesh’s military was intensifying its exchanges with China. Bangladesh holds war exercises with the Chinese military but not with India. But it deputes officers to attend courses in Indian military institutions.With the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government also helping India in dealing with Northeast-based insurgents, New Delhi is now eager that the militaries co-operate more.

General Mubeen is visiting India this week at the same time as the Indian Army is hosting a group of Bangladesh war veterans in north Bengal where the Indian Army had set up camps to train the mukti joddhas (freedom fighters) in the 1971 war that led to the creation of Bangladesh from erstwhile East Pakistan.

The Indian Air Force has offered the Bangladesh Biman Bahini (Bangladesh Air Force) use of its facilities to modernise and maintain fighter aircraft and helicopters.

The Indian Navy is also now considering refurbishing and repairing the Bangladesh Navy’s frigates.

“The visit assumes special significance in the light of improving military co-operation between the two countries in consonance with India’s growing relationship with Bangladesh,” a defence ministry statement said.

Like his predecessor in 2008, General Mubeen is meeting, apart from the service chiefs, defence minister A.K. Antony and national security adviser Shiv Shankar Menon. He is slated to visit Calcutta on March 18 where he will be hosted by the Eastern Command headquarters in Fort William. Before that he will also visit the South Western Command in Jaipur.

General Mubeen is accompanied by his wife and four senior officers.

“The visit would further cement our defence relationship with Bangladesh and add impetus to our ongoing defence co-operation. Maintenance of enhanced military-to-military contacts with Bangladesh by Indian Army is mutually beneficial to the strategic interests of both,” the defence ministry statement said.

 

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http://sify.com/news/bangladesh-army-chief-visits-leh-news-national-kdqqkdgihhd.html

Bangladesh Army chief visits Leh

Bangladesh Army chief General Mohammad Abdul Mubeen, who is the first army chief of an Islamic country to visit the strategically located Leh region of Jammu and Kashmir, interacted with senior Indian Army officers during his visit there Tuesday, an official said.

The General Officer Commanding of 14 Corps, Lt. General S.K. Singh, briefed Mubeen about the high altitude conditions that the Indian soldiers face in the area as they guard the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan and the Siachen glacier, considered to be the highest battlefield in the world, bordering Pakistan controlled Kashmir.


'The visiting chief was briefed by Lt. Gen. S.K. Singh on various commitments of the army, peculiarities of operating in the extreme high altitude terrain of the Himalayas and various developmental projects undertaken in the remote region of Ladakh,' Indian Army spokesman Lt. Col. Biplab Nath said in a release.


'He (the Bangladesh Army chief) praised the Indian soldiers for carrying out their tasks with elan while braving hardships of extreme weather and terrain in the toughest battlefield of the world,' the spokesman added.


Mubeen also visited Shanti Stupa, an iconic landmark in Leh city reflecting the region's Buddhist culture and religion and interacted with Buddhist priests there.


'This visit to Leh has played a significant role in promoting and strengthening the bonds of friendship, mutual trust and confidence between the two armies and the countries,' the spokesman added.


Mubeen's visit comes at a time when Indian troops have strengthened their vigil along the LAC following a series of incursions by Chinese troops in 2008 and 2009.

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