PM’s Special Assistant Biplob Barua received the letter signed by BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Sunday.
“Sending this letter is nothing but a public stunt,” Mahmud told reporters at the Secretariat.
In the letter, the BNP demanded the details of “agreements signed between India and Bangladesh” during the Prime Minister’s recent visit to the neighbouring country be made public.
“No new agreement was signed…,” Mahmud said.
Some memoranda of understanding (MoUs) and Standard of Operation of Procedure (SOPs) were signed and the Line of Credit (LoC) that India gave Bangladesh. “Based on it, an agreement was signed on Exim Bank opening an office in Dhaka,” he said, adding that no other agreement was inked.
The Information Minister said he found it amusing that a party like BNP does not know the difference between an agreement and an MoU.
“The MoU recognised that India would take 1.82 cusec water from the Feni River out of 800 cusec water for drinking which they’re already withdrawing but we brought it under a framework,” he added.
Talking about agreement facilitating India to use Chattogram and Mongla ports, the minister said this agreement was signed in the past, and recently just the SOP was signed based on the previous agreement which would boost the economy.
‘No word about Khaleda’
The BNP letter did not demand the release of its incarcerated Chairperson Khaleda Zia, the minister said.
“They wrote to the Prime Minister for the first time since Khaleda Zia’s arrest but didn’t seek her release,” he said. “It didn’t contain a single word for her.”
Khaleda, a former prime minister, has been in jail since February last year after she was found guilty of corruption.
Her party maintains that the cases were politically motivated and has been demanding her release.