A section of the international community has been trying to create “water hegemony” centring India in South Asia, said Tauhidul Anwar Khan, former member of India-Bangladesh Joint River Commission, yesterday.
“A section of donor countries sometime try to create water hegemony centring India. But water is a fundamental right of a citizen [of any country, including Bangladesh],” he said addressing a workshop titled “Strengthening Transparency and Access to Information on Transboundary Water Governance in South Asia” at a hotel in the capital.
Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies organised the workshop with the support of the Asia Foundation.
Khan, who was a key person in the commission for more than three decades, said there are 54 rivers common between Bangladesh and India, but the treaty between the two countries covers only the Ganges, even though all the transboundary rivers are supposed to come under bilateral treaties by phases.
When asked about whether it was diplomatic or a political failure on Bangladesh’s part as it had been receiving less water than the expected level, Khan dodged the question and said: “Analyse the data and you will get the answer.”
Khan said Bangladesh repeatedly asked India to go for multi-lateral treaties – Bangladesh-India-Nepal – on water issues to construct reservoirs in Nepal, but India was reluctant to do so.
“However, India is now going for bilateral agreements with Nepal keeping Bangladesh out of the purview. If multi-lateral treaties were signed, then the whole region would be benefited,” he said.
In the welcoming speech, A Atiq Rahman, executive director of Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies, said: “We did not get any information about the government-level meetings on transboundary water-sharing in South Asia. We want to get proper information.”
BUET Professor Mashfiqus Salehi presented the key note paper and blamed India for insufficient water flow in Bangladesh during the dry season, saying it was not possible to meet the demand through rain water harvesting only.
“Common understanding of the problems and issues involved and common interests and concerns on the part of riparian countries are necessary preconditions for finding effective solutions,” he added.
