JRC meet bears fruit

One must remember the fact that this is the first time in two years that the JRC has even met, and so on this count alone the meeting must be seen as a positive step forward. Further, the tone of discussion and apparent openness of both sides to listen to the concerns and point of view of the other country were very encouraging. On the whole, we express general if cautious satisfaction with the outcome of the meeting.

The most important thing to come out of the meeting from the Bangladeshi point of view was the categorical statement made by the Indian Water Resources Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi that the waters of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers will not be diverted pursuant to any river linking project. The declaration was an unequivocal official statement, announced in front of the whole world, and thus we are persuaded of its credibility.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

In addition, the Indian side made two more unequivocal proclamations that should be of comfort to us. The first is that India, as the upper-riparian, pledged that it would undertake no water project that would be harmful to Bangladesh, the second is that any steps taken by the Indian government that are likely to impact lower-riparian Bangladesh would be taken only after consultation.

Mr. Dasmunsi has suggested that there has been wrongful propaganda on the subject of the river linking project. Perhaps. But it was also a lack of a categorical and unequivocal official statement on the part of India that fueled these suspicions. Any suspicions should now have been removed.

Finally, India will go ahead and build a power generation plant on the Tipaimukh, but has agreed to implement no irrigation scheme that would impede the flow of water to Bangladesh, and they have also promised to show us the design of that power plant. This strikes us as a mature and statesmanlike compromise that is emblematic of the cooperative nature of the talks.

There are still unresolved issues, such as the sharing of waters of some rivers, notably the Teesta. However, these have been noted and tabled until the next JRC meeting, and the positive tone of the recently concluded talks allows us to hope that these issues will be resolved before long.