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September 12, 2011 |  | By Manpreet Sohanpal | ||
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For Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s ‘sentimental journey’ to Bangladesh, the broad issues to be discussed were sharing of the Teesta waters, enhanced regional connectivity, implementation of the joint communiqué issue by Singh and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinaduring the latter’s visit to India in 2010, economic development assistance, terrorism, and security related matters.The Chief Ministers of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and West Bengal, had been invited to accompany the PM. There was a last moment hiccup when the West Bengal Chief Minister, refused to accompany the Prime Minister due to differences on the proposed treaty on sharing of the Teesta waters. Earlier, National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon, accompanied by Union Water Resource Secretary DV Singh and senior officials from the intelligence agencies had briefed Mamta Banerjee on the ‘strategy of bilateral discussion during the PM’s visit’. Ms Banerjee objected to the difference in the quantity of water sharing shown inthe draft presented to her and the final versions of the Teesta treaty placed before Bangladesh. Her refusal to accompany the Prime Minister stalled the treaty much to the disappointment of Bangladesh. An exchange of letters for transit from Chittagong and Mongla ports also had to be shelved. The issue of sharing the Teesta’s waters still remains an irritant and a bone of contention and to an extent was a dampener on a historic visit.The Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh did announce in a press conference on 8th September that the Teesta Agreement would be signed within three months and there would be no changes made in the agreement. But the last word has not yet been said on the issue. The major success of the visit was the signing of the protocol to the Land Boundary Agreement, 1974 between the two countries. With this the 60 year old dispute over 198 political enclaves in India and Bangladesh can be put to an end. The plight of the people living in these enclaves is much like that of the stateless people, deprived of rights, recognition and citizenship. This has often been accompanied by bloody encounters between the BSF and the erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles leading to loss of lives on either side, large scale looting, communal violence, human rights abuse, and above all, displaced sovereignty. In spite of numerous talks, no settlement was ever reached except for the creation of the‘Teen Bigha Corridor’ to join the enclave of Dahagram in India to its mainland in Bangladesh, separated by the Teesta River on the west and the Indian Territory on the east. The same corridor connected Kuchibari to the Indian Territory.India, under the treaty, is required to hand over 111 enclaves to Bangladesh in return of 51 enclaves under the 1974 agreement. For the past one year, joint surveyors had been placed in the area to assess the problem. A 24-hour access to the enclaves of Dahagram-Angropota through the Tin Bigha Corridor has now been worked out along with measure to improve border infrastructure. During the Prime Minister’s visit,Delhi was rocked by a blast outside the Delhi High Court. The Indian premier emphasised the need to jointly fight terrorism and working towards building counter terrorism co-operation. While the present Awami League government has come down heavily on the militants, the earlier Khalida Zia’s BNP-Jamaat coalition rule was supportive of elements promoting fundamentalism which led to ties being strained. On the positive side of the visit a number of MoU’s were signed between the two countries. They are as follows: • Framework Agreement on Cooperation for Development. Improved infrastructure will facilitate Bangladesh’s exports to India, especially textile, and provide it with greater opening to India and other neighbouring countries. The issue relating to non-tariff barrier is also being addressed. India has further guaranteed assistance in the setting up of a 1320 megawatt joint venture plant in Khulda. Barring the criticisms over the non-resolution of the water dispute, the visit is a big leap in strengthening relations with Bangla Desh. Growing Chinese interest in India’s neighbourhood need to be countered and this visit marks an important step in that direction. But much more clearly needs to be done to further strengthen ties not only with Bangla Desh but with all our neighbours in South Asia. Manpreet Sohanpal is a Research Intern at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi (Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the views either of the Editorial Committee or the Centre for Land Warfare Studies).
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Manpreet Sohanpal |
