Teesta deal not on the horizon, joint statement silent on Assam citizenship

This time around, there was no significant progress in the signing of the much-awaited Teesta deal, a fraught issue between Bangladesh and India.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said Bangladesh looks to the signing and implementation of the deal for sharing the Teesta river waters with India.

Her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi reiterates that his government is working with all stakeholders in India to sign the agreement “soonest possible”. There’s nothing more than this oft-repeated assurance.

Bangladesh and India signed seven MoUs and agreements after key bilateral talks between the two leaders in New Delhi on Saturday.

The people of Bangladesh are “awaiting early signing and implementation of the Framework of Interim Agreement for sharing of the Teesta waters”, Hasina highlighted in a joint statement.

This should happen “as agreed upon by both governments in 2011”, she said, referring to the then Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Dhaka.

In reply, Modi said his government is “working with all stakeholders in India for conclusion of the Agreement soonest possible”.

Under one of the MoUs signed on Saturday, India will draw drinking water from the Feni river in Bangladesh and supply it to a town in Tripura.

“Our prime minister has granted it on humanitarian grounds,” Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque said in a press conference later. 

The Teesta river in Bangladesh's Nilphamari district.

A MUCH-AWAITED DEAL

The Teesta water deal has remained pending since September 2011 when West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee embarrassed Singh by pulling out of his delegation to Bangladesh, forcing India to drop the deal from the agenda.

Since then, the Indian government has been assuring Bangladesh of concluding the agreement "as soon as possible".

During her visit in 2015, Banerjee urged Hasina to lift the ban on hilsa export, but Hasina said India should ensure a fair share of the Teesta river water by striking a deal first if they wanted the fish.

When Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar had come to Dhaka to invite Hasina, he had said Bangladesh wanted to hear from him such issues as Teesta water and citizenship exercise in Assam.

“Our partnership with Bangladesh remains an example what neighbours can do together,” he had said, speaking about resolving the issues.

After water secretary-level talks in Dhaka on Aug 8, first such meeting after eight years, officials said Bangladesh and India decided to update the data of the Teesta river along with seven others before sharing water in a new move.

File Photo: People wait in queue to check their names on the draft list at the National Register of Citizens (NRC) centre at a village in Nagaon district, Assam state, India, July 30, 2018. Reuters

ASSAM NRC

The much-talked-about Assam’s citizenship exercise has not been mentioned in the 53-point joint statement issued after the bilateral meeting.

Before Hasina’s official visit began on Oct 3, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen had told journalists that Dhaka would raise all the contentious issues, including Teesta and the Assam’s National Register of Citizens or NRC, during the meeting.

Assam’s NRC has raised concerns in Bangladesh recently as many fear that those rendered non-citizens of India may be pushed into Bangladesh.

But India maintains that dropping 1.9 million people from the NRC list is their internal issue which in no way will affect Bangladesh, a promise that the foreign minister earlier said Dhaka trusts.

“On NRC issue, we’ve said that we think its India’s internal affair. We hope India, as a friendly country, will stick to its commitment,” Foreign Secretary Haque told the media after the Modi-Hasina meeting.

This is the first visit of Hasina to New Delhi after her reelection and the publication of the NRC list in Assam.

Modi had earlier assured her in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly that there will be no impact of the NRC on Bangladesh, according to her spokesperson.

7 DEALS, 3 PROJECTS

When the two leaders met on Saturday, they expressed “satisfaction” over the “excellent” state of bilateral relations based on “deep historical and fraternal ties, which reflect an all-encompassing bilateral partnership based on sovereignty, equality, trust and understanding that transcends a strategic partnership”.

They held “productive and comprehensive” discussions, during which they reviewed all aspects of the bilateral relations, and exchanged views on regional issues, according to the joint statement.

Both premiers agreed to fully utilise various opportunities for advancing mutually beneficial partnership in both conventional and non-conventional areas, and to ensure that their “irreversible” partnership enhances the legacy started with the War of Liberation of Bangladesh in 1971.

They presided over the ceremony to exchange seven bilateral MoUs or agreements signed during the visit and also inaugurated via video link three bilateral projects.

The deals are:

>> MoU for providing a coastal surveillance system.

>> Standard Operating Procedure or SOP on the use of Chattogram and Mongla ports for movement of goods to and from India.

>> MoU on withdrawal of 1.82 cusec of water from the Feni River by India for drinking water supply scheme for Sabroom town in Tripura.

>> Agreement concerning implementation of the Lines of Credit committed by India to Bangladesh.

>> MoU between the University of Hyderabad and the University of Dhaka.

>> Renewal of Cultural Exchange Programme.

>> MoU on cooperation in youth affairs.

The three projects involve the import of liquefied petroleum gas or LPG from Bangladesh to northeast India, the inauguration of Bangladesh-India Professional Skill Development Institute in Khulna and the Vivekanand Bhawan at the Ramakrishna Mission in Dhaka.

File Photo: A boy holds a placard as hundreds of Rohingya refugees protest against their repatriation at the Unchiprang camp in Teknaf, Bangladesh November 15, 2018. Reuters

ROHINGYA ISSUE

The two leaders agreed on the need for greater efforts for facilitating the safe, speedy and sustainable repatriation of the Rohingya refugees to their homes in the Rakhine State of Myanmar.

The efforts include improving security situation and socio-economic conditions in Rakhine, Hasina and Modi agreed.

Modi appreciated Bangladesh’s generosity in sheltering and providing humanitarian assistance to the forcibly displaced persons.

India will supply a fifth tranche of humanitarian assistance to support Hasina administration’s humanitarian efforts to shelter the refugees in temporary camps in Cox’s Bazar, he said.

The aid will comprise tents, relief and rescue materials as well as 1,000 sewing machines for skill development of forcibly displaced women from Myanmar.

In addition, India has completed a first project to build 250 houses in Rakhine State, and is now preparing to implement another set of socio-economic development projects in the area.

Hasina conveyed the gratitude of her government for the humanitarian assistance provided by India to help meet the needs of the refugees since September, 2017, when Myanmar forced over 700,000 Rohingya Muslims to cross the border by launching a violent military crackdown in response to insurgent attacks on security posts.