While eastwatch celebrating with indians on a 2 years down the road mere 500 MW electricity import, india is continually making life of millions of Bangladeshis miserable. This type of exuberance only come from a malaun.
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Agreement on Teesta unlikely during Hasina’s Delhi visit
Shahidul Islam Chowdhury and Mustafizur Rahman
It is unlikely that Bangladesh and India would sign a comprehensive agreement on sharing the Teesta water during prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s scheduled visit to New Delhi later this month, senior officials of the two countries indicated. Their assumption is based on the fact that New Delhi has declined to hold a ministerial-level meeting of the Joint Rivers Commission before the Hasina’s much-vaunted visit to the Indian capital.
But signing of a brief memorandum of understanding on sharing of the Teesta flow is a possibility only if the two governments can reach a consensus at the highest political level, they said. ‘We will be expediting the process to reach an understanding on sharing of the waters of the Teesta river at the earliest,’ foreign secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes told New Age at his office on Sunday when he was asked about the possibility of signing an agreement on Teesta water.
The highest political levels of the two countries could however take a decision any time whether a full-fledged ‘agreement’ or a brief written commitment would be made on the issue, he said.
A foreign ministry official told New Age that signing an agreement on sharing the water of the Teesta river is very unlikely as India has already declined to hold the ministerial level meeting of the Joint Rivers Commission, which generally finalises the nitty-gritty of any deal on sharing water of the common rivers, before the prime minister's Delhi visit.
Water resources ministers of the two countries usually lead their respective sides at the JRC meeting. Indian high commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty meanwhile told reporters on Thursday that signing an agreement on the Teesta river would require intervention from the highest political levels of the two countries.
The water resources ministry is still in the dark whether sharing of waters of the common rivers would be included in the agenda of discussions during the prime minister's Delhi visit, scheduled to begin on 18th of this month. The secretary of the water resources ministry, Sheikh M Wahiduzzaman, said on Sunday, 'I'm yet to know whether the issues on sharing of water of the common rivers will be included in the agenda in the prime minister's visit to India.'
[Comments] ^^^This is where awami govt is playing stooge act preventing and refusing to take the Teesta water issue at highest level, to resolve it
When asked about the outcome of the three-day meeting of the technical body of the JRC that concluded in Dhaka on Sunday, he said, 'We have placed our demand to provide more waters from the common rivers.' The secretary however did not specify any names of the rivers.
Asked whether Dhaka has placed a draft agreement at the technical committee meeting, a senior government official said, 'We have unofficially communicated what are our expectations in a possible agreement on sharing of the Teesta flow.'
Dhaka is asking New Delhi to hold a ministerial level meeting of the JRC. India has persistently expressed its inability to join the meeting in last six years although at least two meetings are supposed to be held each year as per the rules of the commission, according to JRC sources in Dhaka.
Bangladesh and India, however, finalised drafts of three agreements for signing during the PM's visit. The agreements are on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters; combating international terrorism, organised crime and illicit drug trafficking; and transfer of sentenced persons. Both sides agreed to take further steps for early signing of the three agreements.
The two sides have been examining the possibility of signing agreements or memorandums of understanding on exchanging electricity and Indian investment in developing infrastructures, including railway and road facilities, in Bangladesh.
The outstanding issues that Bangladesh has been trying to negotiate with India for years, include finalising the agreements for sharing of the waters of the Teesta and six other rivers, removal of non-tariff and para-tariff barriers for reducing the trade gap, on the issue of lands in adverse possession, un-demarcated borders, the Dahagram and Angarpota enclaves and the Teen Bigha corridor.
New Delhi is also pursuing its proposal to designate Ashuganj in Brahmanbaria as a new port of call for Indian vessels and to allow India to use Chittagong port.
Sheikh Hasina is likely to reach New Delhi directly on December 18 after attending the UN-sponsored global conference on climate change in Copenhagen.She is expected to hold bilateral talks with her Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, on December 19, the day the two sides are expected to sign some agreements.
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