Abolishment of visa
This is with reference to Prof. Md. Nurul Absar's letter published on the 25th of January, proposing abolishment of a visa system between India & Bangladesh.
I write from across the border to express complete agreement with Prof. Absar. We Bengalis of India have always looked with misty eyes to our east. For so many of us our ancestral homes, which have been woven into our imaginations by the stories of our grandparents, lie across the border. It is such an aberration of fate that we who are joint heirs to the same glorious culture and we who cherish the same language as our mother tongue, be today kept apart by something as mundane as the hassles of procuring a passport and a visa. It is time a debate started in both our countries on this subject.
Prof. Absar hedges his argument upon the goodwill created by Sheikh Hasina's state visit to New Delhi. Certainly her visit was historic and will lead to strengthening of ties. But I assure him, and with him all my brothers in Bangladesh, to remember that a special place in the hearts of the 80 million people of West Bengal is forever reserved for them. No ups and downs in international relations, or the games of statecraft that are played out, can ever dilute that unparalleled affection and esteem with which we hold Bangladesh and its people.
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