Landmark border agreements but no Teesta deal during PM visit

BANGLA-LD PM
 Landmark border agreements but no Teesta deal during PM visit
   From Pallabh Bhattacharya and Anisur Rahman
   Dhaka, Sept 6 (PTI) India and Bangladesh Tuesday inked
 historic agreements to settle their vexed land boundary
 issues, including exchange of 162 enclaves, but a last-minute
 scrapping of Teesta water sharing deal marred Prime Minister
 Manmohan Singh's maiden visit here.
   The visit, first by an Indian Prime Minister since 1999,
 was touted as one that would break new grounds in bilateral
 ties and craft a new paradigm of relations, but the Teesta
 water issue prompted an upset Dhaka to summon the Indian envoy
 the very day Singh arrived here.
   However, the visit did see the two countries sign
 landmark agreements on land boundary demarcation and exchange
 of adversely held enclaves, that would settle the decades-old
 border issue.
   Prime Minister Singh who met his Bangladeshi counterpart
 Sheikh Hasina this evening also announced 24-hour access to
 Bangladeshi nationals through the Tin Bigha corridor besides
 duty-free access to 46 textile items with immediate effect.
   Prime Minister Singh also said that India and Bangladesh
 have had agreed to reach a mutually-acceptable solution to
 water sharing of Teesta and Femi rivers.
   The two sides were set to ink the Teesta water deal
 during the two-day visit but objections raised by West Bengal
 Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the draft of the agreement
 led India to back off from the agreement.
       Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Mijarul Qayes called Indian
 envoy Rajeev Mitter to the Foreign Ministry this morning and
 sought a clarification on India deciding "at the last minute"
 not to sign the accord, calling it "unacceptable" and "very
 frustrating".
       Bangladesh, for which the Teesta pact would have been the
 most vital event of Singh's two-day visit, also reportedly
 threatened to retaliate by not signing the transit accord with
 India. PTI WAJ
 HMI