Teesta water-sharing deal 'soon'
Says Syed Ashraful Islam after meeting Indian leaders
Bangladesh's LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam yesterday said the Teesta river water-sharing agreement would be signed “fairly soon” now that the “weather has improved”.
He was talking to journalists after wrapping up a five-day official visit to India during which he met President Pranab Mukherjee, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi and top opposition leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley of BJP.
In reply to a question, he said, “I'm very hopeful that the Teesta agreement and implementation of the land boundary agreement will happen fairly soon because the weather has turned very good.”
Asked what he meant by “weather turning very good”, Islam, who is also the Awami League general secretary, declined to elaborate.
However, he apparently had in mind Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee who had opposed the proposed Teesta deal and whose party has quit India's ruling Congress-led UPA.
When he was again asked about Mamata's stand on the Teesta issue, Islam said when negotiations had been going on between India and Bangladesh on the draft treaty on Teesta water-sharing, “she had never opposed it.”
The AL leader said he had met Rahul Gandhi on September 19 and discussed political issues.
Islam said he called on Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan yesterday and discussed bilateral issues. He said the Indian president was likely to visit Bangladesh “sometime in the coming winter” this year.
Islam also met Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her counterpart in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley and discussed bilateral issues.
Answering a question on India's demand for transit, he said the Hasina government always favoured cross-border rail and road connectivity not only between the two countries but also with Myanmar, China and Thailand at the sub-regional level.
To another question about handing over ULFA leader Anup Chetia, now in a Bangladesh jail, Ashraful said the legal process was still on and if India sent a request for his deportation when the process would be over, the Bangladesh government would consider it.
Ashraful also met India's Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, at whose invitation he visited Delhi, Panchayat Raj Minister KC Deo, Law Minister Salman Khurshid, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon and Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments