Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pankaj Saran yesterday said water management was going to be the next focus of the bilateral relationship.
“I think after the land boundary agreement, we seem to be heading for that direction,” he said at a discussion on Bangladesh-India relationship in the city.
He said basin-wise management was mentioned deliberately in the Bangladesh-India framework agreement signed in 2011.
There have been some discussions between the two governments at informal level, not within the JRC (Joint River Commission) framework. But it was not being as intense as it should have been, he said.
About signing Teesta agreement, he said it was still in progress because it was better to work quietly behind the scene, rather than advertising progress.
“But I am confident it will happen, because that is the approach of India. It is something that both sides want to happen.”
He said water is a broad area what both the countries need to address. “I think once we get some confidence boost from Teesta, then everything will become easier.”
Felani killing
The Indian envoy admitted that the Felani incident was the most unfortunate incident in the relationship between Bangladesh and India.
When asked if the acquittal of BSF jawan who killed Felani would encourage more killings in the border, he replied negatively.
“My answer to your question whether it will encourage more killings is no. It will not, because that is not the way Indian border guard functions.”
He said India wants to bring down the border killing to zero. Over the last couple of years, a number of steps have been taken to prevent such incidents and ensure better management of the border.
He said smuggling of cattle and cows across the border was perhaps one of the single biggest sources of illegal activites along the border.
A lot of time wasted
The Indian envoy said the implicit message of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Dhaka in June was “we have wasted lot of time. Let’s catch up”.
He said Bangladesh and India are the masters of their own destiny and for that they need to identify who their friends are and who their partners are and how to take the relationship to a new height.
Visa
The Indian High Commission has taken a number of steps to reduce hassle of visa seekers.
Saran said now 10 Indian visa centres are operating in the country to provide service to visa seekers. He said they had decided eight months ago to introduce a system where nine out of 10 categories of visas would be issued without any appointment or token requirement.
At present, only tourists need to get appointment prior to seeking visa from the high commission, he said.
