Bangladesh has asked India to invoke the spirit of cooperation and friendship witnessed during its war of liberation in 1971 with respect to the stalled Teesta water sharing treaty, in order to move forward on all other fronts such as transit from mainland India to its northeast States.
Welcoming Mamata Banerjee's ascension as West Bengal Chief Minister, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni asked her to revive the bond of 1971 when people of the State had accommodated one crore refugees from her country fleeing persecution by the Pakistani Army and provided the base for training men and women of Mukti Bahini, the indigenous liberation fighters, who then took on their tormentors.
Dr. Moni's observations are significant because Ms. Banerjee had scuttled the Teesta Treaty by pulling out of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's delegation to Dhaka late last year where this pact was to be inked.
Water sharing is a highly emotive issue in Bangladesh.
“Obviously when you are satisfied and happy, you work better. People's perception also matter. We need to have movement on all fronts. We definitely have movement on many fronts but need to have the deal.”
Ms. Moni was critical about a recent statement by the Border Security Force (BSF) chief that firing on the border would go on despite assurances to the contrary at the “highest political levels” [meaning Dr. Singh].
This is another issue that inflames public opinion here and the recent video of BSF jawans mercilessly thrashing a villager led to another round of charges of high-handedness by Indian security forces in checking cattle smuggling.
“Assurances have been given at the highest political levels. If there is variance at the functional level, it is very, very disappointing and surprising,” she added.
Indicating the importance of the Teesta water treaty in building public opinion towards agreements in other areas, Dr. Moni told visiting journalists from several countries that not only were people disappointed by its stalling, it also overshadowed all other achievements. She indicated that security perceptions no longer played a role in Bangladesh allowing goods from other countries to transit through its territory.
“Definitely Bangladesh has taken the initiative because given its geographical location it can become a hub between South and South East Asia. We are looking not just at physical connectivity but linking of ideas by more contacts between people of both countries. Not only India but Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar. We could extend this to Myanmar and China.”
Commonalities
Returning to the theme of the Teesta Treaty and reaching out to Ms. Banerjee, Dr. Moni referred to the several commonalities between Bangladesh and West Bengal.
“Whatever we do, we would like to see the bond of 1971 in all our exchanges. There are obvious expectations and we are very happy to see a woman at the helm in West Bengal. At the same time we have many, many issues [that are pending]. We are sure we will do them [resolve] in the same spirit.”
She also counseled patience in the various pacts coming into operation. “I believe we are making a lot of progress but these things do not happen overnight. We have the basic agreement and have to build on that. On transit, there is the matter of building up capacity, we have to make the existing infrastructure usable for transit. I don't think that something will suddenly pop up suddenly. Both sides have to work hard.”
