TERMING the Bhutanese offensive against the North-East militants a watershed, Union Telecommunications Minister Arun Shourie said if Bangladesh continued to support such militant groups, the country would get automatically isolated one day. “India will not do that (isolate the neighbour). All neighbouring countries who want peace for progress will distance themselves from Bangladesh,’’ Mr. Shourie observed. On Myanmar, where many insurgent groups of the region are now taking shelter, he informed that Myanmarese Foreign minister had already promised to extend    full support to root them out from  its soil. “The Myanmarese government had promised to ensure that its soil could not be used by any subversive forces against India,’’ he revealed.  Commenting on Bangladesh, the Union Minister further said that “pressure could not be  built on any sovereign country,’’ adding “we have to pursue the matter’’. “Bhutan did a commendable job against the North-East ultras. Then a historical agreement was made with the Bodo Liberation Tigers.

Peace talks are progressing well in Nagaland. A very good diplomatic relation has been established with Myanmar... ,’’ he cited examples to prove the Centre’s sincerity in seeking peace to usher in development in the region. The Union Minister also held a meeting with BJP workers in Shillong. He lauded both Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani for their serious effort in bringing peace in the region. The visiting Central Minister said that the issue of militants operating in Bangla soil against the Government of India had been repeatedly taken up with the neighbouring country and asserted that if Dhaka continued to ignore the same, sooner or later the country would get isolated.

The minister said Myanmar was cooperating at all levels and felt this would be a boon to the region.  Road link from the North-East to Thailand via Myanmar was on the anvil and international connectivity from Myanmar via Kolkata was also being worked out, he said. As part of Atal Sandesh Yatra to make Indians know the country’s achievements, Arun Shourie said the key word for development of the region  was implementation. Mr. Shourie, known for his long association with the North-East, said the Centre should not always be dragged into a dismal picture where people felt unhappy. This was caused by non-performance of particular State Governments, the Union Minister remarked.

His tour of the region came when all North-Eastern chief ministers decried the Centre’s decison to slash North Eastern  Council (NEC) budget at the 49th council meeting held in Shillong. Mr Shourie put across his opinion toned with election hue and made the complainants hear that they should better hone their skill of performance than pass the buck. “Why are you all talking about a cut in the NEC budget. Please look at the total Central funds meant for North-East,” he said and gave a breakup of funds comprising about Rs 6,700 crore during 1998-99, Rs 11,800 crore last year and more than Rs 12,000 crore this year for the region.

Money in no way came in between development and the region, he observed and asked why respective State Governments were reluctant to give just a paper showing their utility of funds so that they could ask for more. Mr. Shourie made an oblique statement that doubted the State Governments’ seriousness about making proper use of Central funds. Funds sent either must be lying unspent or diverted to other heads, he observed. “The NDA Government is giving priority to the region and the prime minister is keen on seeing peace and development in the region,” the Union Minister opined adding governance must improve and the public must be vigilant. He also appealed to the media to follow whether the funds were being properly utilised.

Mr. Shourie also attended a BJP rally at Umpling where he  raised the same topic of fund misutilisation and non-performance. “The region has to catch up with the rest of the country. I wonder why the region is still complaining when the rest of the country is marching forward,” he said. Mr. Shourie also countered critics on the issue of opening up of trade routes with Bangladesh stating that the Centre had made all endevours to take up the issue with the country but Dhaka did not respond to India’s request for transit facility.   “Bangladesh can exchange their gas with our coal. There is need for the atmosphere of co-operation in the entire region, including south east Asia,” he said.   Keeping in tune with the feel good factor campaign, he said Europe and America could not match their growth rate with India which now stood at eight per cent.

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