South Asian Media Net
TEESTA WATER SHARING DEAL UNLIKELY
Friday, December 25,2009
DHAKA: The signing of a full-fledged agreement on the sharing of Teesta Rivers water between Bangladesh and India is still unlikely unless India decides at the highest political level to sign the deal during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas upcoming visit to Delhi next month.
But the signing of a brief Memorandum of Understanding on sharing Teestas water is a possibility as the Indian water resources secretary, UN Panjiar, will come to Dhaka on January 3 and stay for four days to discuss the nitty-gritty details of sharing the waters of common rivers including Teesta.
The water resources secretaries of the two countries will discuss various issues including the sharing of Teesta Rivers water in the first week of January. But were yet to set a date for the minister-level meeting of the JRC (Joint Rivers Commission), said foreign affairs minister Dipu Moni on Thursday.
Water resources minister Ramesh Chandra Sen told New Age on Thursday that he was ready to join a ministerial-level meeting of the JRC at any time. We have completed the paper work, but everything depends on India.
Foreign affairs secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes said on Thursday that the government is trying to hammer out an agreement on sharing Teesta Rivers water as soon as possible.
Technical experts of the two countries held a meeting in Dhaka recently. Now a (water) secretary-level meeting will be held which will lead to the minister-level meeting of the Joint Rivers Commission, he said.
We will try to arrange a minister-level meeting of the JRC before the prime ministers upcoming visit, said the foreign affairs secretary. It will be held immediately after her visit if it isnt possible before the visit.
The secretary of the water resources ministry, Sheikh M Wahiduzzaman, confirmed that he would raise the issue of the sharing of Teesta Rivers water during the meeting with his Indian counterpart here. Ill certainly raise the Teesta issue, he said firmly.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will fly to New Delhi on January 10 for a four-day state visit. Sources close to her told New Age that she had requested her Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, during meetings with him at the intervals of different international conferences to agree to an accord on the sharing of Teesta Rivers water.
A senior official of the foreign affairs ministry told New Age on Thursday that a minister-level meeting of the JRC before the prime ministers visit seemed unlikely as the secretary-level meeting would end on January 6, only four days before the PMs visit.
Dhaka has, however, unofficially let it be known that it expects an agreement on the sharing of the Teestas water, said the official.
Mohamed Mijarul Quayes said earlier that the highest political levels of the two countries could decide any time whether a full-fledged agreement or a brief written commitment would be made on the issue.
The outgoing Indian high commissioner, Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, told reporters on December 3 that the signing of an agreement on the Teesta would require intervention by the highest political levels of the two countries.
Dhaka is asking New Delhi to hold a minister-level meeting of the JRC. India has persistently expressed its inability to hold the meeting in last six years although at least two meetings are supposed to be held each year as per the rules of the JRC.
The two governments have so far readied the drafts of three agreements for being signed during Hasinas visit: mutual legal assistance in criminal matters; combating international terrorism, organised crime and illicit drug trafficking; and transfer of sentenced persons. The Indian Cabinet recently approved the deal for returning sentenced persons.
The outstanding issues that Bangladesh has been trying to settle with India for several years include finalising the agreements for sharing the water of the Teesta and six other rivers, lands in adverse possession, un-demarcated borders, Dahagram and Angarpota enclaves and the Teen Bigha corridor.
New Delhi is also eager to designate Ashuganj in Brahmanbaria as a new port of call for Indian vessels and to be allowed to use Chittagong Port. Dhaka has agreed to let India carry over-sized equipment via Bangladesh to one of its north-eastern states to set up a power plant there.
Sheikh Hasinas visit to India, which was earlier slated to begin on December 19, was deferred to January 10. She is going there on an invitation from Manmohan Singh.