Veena Sikri, in this regard, proposed more people-to-people interactions at the track II level dialogue.
“There is no use if I am going to repeat what Indian government says and you repeat what Bangladesh government says. Somebody has to find a common way,” she told bdnews24.com in an interview on Wednesday.
“…only if you can think out of the box and accept what I will say is not Indian government’s point of view or Bangladesh government’s point of view.
“We have to find a new way, a common way of discussions.”
Sikri who was the India’s only female high commissioner to Bangladesh, served in Dhaka from Dec 2003 to Nov 2006 when the BNP-Jamaat government was in power.
During her tenure, she witnessed the rise of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB) in Bangladesh, sychronised bomb blasts across the country, and 10-truck arms haul in Chittagong, among many events.
Photo: tanvir ahammed/ bdnews24.com
It was that time when India used to accuse Bangladesh of sheltering its insurgency groups and allowing terrorists to use Bangladesh soil against India.
As she came to join the India-Bangladesh high commissioners’ summit on Friday, the issue of terrorism came to the fore again this time with the bomb blast in West Bengal’s Burdwan.
“Terrorism was the single biggest issue at that time,” she said, and it was “challenging” as the ruling BNP-Jamaat alliance was in “complete denial” of that.
She, however, thanked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for uprooting militants and insurgent groups after she came to the power in 2009.
The Friday summit will discuss the entire relations, changes, hurdles and the future between Dhaka and Delhi.
India, the biggest neighbour, supported Bangladesh in attaining independence from Pakistan in 1971.
But there have been irritants in the relations.
Bangladesh sees India’s failure to strike Teesta water-sharing deal and ratify the land boundary agreement as thorns in the ties.
Sikri who is also a professor of the Academy of International Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi, however, sees “a very bright future” in India-Bangladesh relations.
“The current relation is very positive and very good,” she evaluated.
She hoped that the Friday summit for which she came to Dhaka could make a “breakthrough in better understanding each other”.
And that, she said, would be track II level dialogue, keeping people in the focus.
She said the approach should be “problem-solving” because “I think as far as issues are concerns both sides understand, so let us see how to find a solution”.
Photo: tanvir ahammed/ bdnews24.com
“If you don’t have people-to-people relations, you can never have good relations.
“Once you have (good people-to-people relations), no government can do harm in anyway,” she said.
Land boundary and water management
She said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “a very strong and decisive” leader and hoped that land boundary ratification would be done shortly.
But she believed more needed to be done to get Teesta accord inked.
“LBA will be ratified,” a confident Sikri said but suggested beginning of a joint hydrological survey in the process of sealing the deal.
“Modi is a strong leader and he is very decisive. He has started the process of LBA ratification and parliamentary committee has already started discussion.”
Sikri termed the Ganges water-sharing treaty a “big success” and said it was “a global example of mutual treaty”.
“But it was possible as both sides had been able to exchange 40 years of data of water flow. In case of Teesta this data is not available.”
India and Bangladesh needed to do a joint hydrological survey to measure the level of water in a season.
“I think until you do a joint hydrological survey you can’t find a solution.
“You say you need this much water, but you have to see what is coming to the river. Of course you can say why so little water is coming.
“Why in the rainy season there is a flood and immediately in the dry season water starts disappearing...why?”
Sikri also said there were a lot of technicalities that could be discussed to clear the way for signing the treaty.
“India and Bangladesh need to work together (in water management) in a scientific way,” she said.
She, however, finds “important breakthrough” on tbe jssue as Sheikh Hasina and Manmohan Singh during their visits agreed on river-basin wise water management.
“They (India-Bangladesh) have not started the process yet, but this acknowledgement is an important breakthrough.”
Illegal migrants
She also pointed out the issue of illegal migrants, which Modi was speaking about during his elections campaign.
In this context she said there should be a “cordial discussion” in a “friendly manner”.
“There are methodologies to ascertain illegal migrants,” she said.
She said in 1992 during Khaleda Zia’s visit to India, she recognised the problem of illegal migrants and it was evident in the joint statement issued during her visit.
“Both governments (in 1992) discussed and recognised it and mentioned that they would solve it through discussion.”
But the discussion never happened, she said.
Jan 5 elections
India supported the much-talked-about Jan 5 elections that returned Awami League to the power for a second successive term.
The US opposed the balloting.
Sikri said India took a different stance during the Jan 5 elections because it “does not believe non-regional power has a place in SAARC”.
“Everyone can have good bilateral relations, there is no problem in it,” she said.
She said it was “essential and necessary” to hold the elections on Jan 5.
“If it was not held, there would have been a constitutional crisis in Bangladesh.”
“When you have elections every party has the choice to take part in the elections.
“If one party does not want to participate, you cannot say because it is not participating, election will not be held. That is not fair.”
The former diplomat cited example of Jammu and Kashmir where the Election Commission would hold elections despite political parties not finding the time convenient for polls.
“Institution in democracy is very important.”
Photo: tanvir ahammed/ bdnews24.com
It was a “pity” that more than half of the seats returned winners uncontested. “It is unfortunate,” she remarked.
But Sikri observed “it is the responsibility of the elected government to make sure that development work in those constituencies that had one candidate does not suffer.
“They should consult everybody and go ahead with the development works (in those constituencies)”.
She, however, called on the BNP to take by-elections route, if possible, to come to parliament to get its voice heard.
Collective efforts
Sikri who is now writing a book on Bangladesh said “we have much greater common problems than any minor differences”.
“Any of your problems is my problem now,” she said stressing on collective approach.
The fomer Indian High Commissioner said Bangladesh, due to unique geographical location, can play an important role in regional groupings like BIMSTEC and SAARC.
“I see bilaterally the relationship (India, Bangladesh) will be very strong on issues like security and terrorisms.
“I think economic activities will be strong in future.”
She said Bangladesh could be an important centre for economic activities through BIMSTEC and sub-regional cooperation.
The Bay of Bengal initiative, BIMSTEC, is headquartered in Dhaka.
