New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina will host a virtual bilateral summit on 17 December, in which Dhaka is expected to raise the issue of river water sharing, particularly that of the River Teesta.
Both Prime Ministers will hold “comprehensive discussions on the entire spectrum of the bilateral relationship”, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement Monday.
This will be the first bilateral summit between both neighbours this year. It was expected to be held in March but was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This time Dhaka is expected to strongly raise the issue of Teesta river waters, which have been a longstanding contentious issue between India and Bangladesh, sources told ThePrint.
According to the sources, Dhaka wants 50 per cent share of the river’s waters for the December-March period.
The river originates from Sikkim and passes through West Bengal before finally merging with the Brahmaputra in Assam and the Jamuna in Bangladesh.
During his visit to Dhaka in 2015, Prime Minister Modi had committed that the matter would be resolved soon. There has, however, not been much progress since then.
In September this year, during the last round of the joint consultative commission meeting that was held virtually between External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen, both “reiterated their commitment to finalisation of the Interim Agreement for sharing of the waters of the Teesta”.
During the meeting, both sides also discussed the need for early conclusion of Framework of Interim Agreement on sharing of waters of six other joint rivers — Manu, Muhuri, Khowai, Gumti, Dharla and Dudhkumar.
The bilateral summit comes on the back of China in August offering to lend $1billion to Bangladesh for the Teesta River Project.
With the increasing Chinese inroads there, India is expected to announce some major economic projects and lines of credit during this summit, sources said.
According to the sources, the issue of Rohingya repatriation is also going to feature prominently in the talks. This matter was discussed during the visit of Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla to Dhaka in August.
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‘1971 binds India, Bangladesh together’
This year the bilateral meeting assumes significant importance as Bangladesh is observing the birth centenary celebrations of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman — Mujib Borsho — who is also regarded as ‘Jatir Pita’ or the ‘Father of the Nation’ in Bangladesh.
This year also marks the 49th anniversary of the Bangladesh Liberation War, also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence. Bangladesh celebrates 16 December as the ‘Victory Day.’
According to Vikram Doraiswami, High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh, the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War “fundamentally proved the idea wrong” that nations can be built only on religions.
“Looking at 1971 we need to see it first and foremost for the larger point it makes … History, of course, remains very much with us. In that sense, therefore, 1971 is not just a counterpoint to the two-nation theory, it is also an important point in marking the direction forward for the region,” Doraiswami said at an event organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) Monday.
He added that Bangladesh is “fundamental for a better South Asia”.
“… ’71 also offers us a clearer understanding of how the forces of history exist under the surface, and nurturing it is in our common benefit,” the Indian envoy said. “So future generations of Bangladesh and India need to recognise that what happened in 1971 is something that actually binds the two countries together … Acknowledgement of what happened in ’71 is also important.”
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