Solutions to the unsettled issues of transboundary rivers between Bangladesh and India lay in bringing the other countries, particularly the South Asian neighbours, into the discussion, said politicians, researchers and campaigners at a discussion in Dhaka on Friday.聽聽
At Professor Muzaffar Ahmed Chowdhury Auditorium in Dhaka University, a civic group Unity for Bangladesh organised the discussion on political solutions to the issues of sharing water of the rivers flowing through the two neighbours.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party鈥檚 standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said that bilateral negotiations regarding the transboundary river water sharing were proved futile.
鈥楢long with India, Bangladesh must engage Nepal, Bhutan and China to find solutions to the challenges it has been facing,鈥� Amir said.
He added that Bangladesh-India relations need redesigning while the relations between the neighbours should develop based on 鈥榤utual respect, mutual interest and non-interference into internal affairs鈥�.
Recommending reform of Bangladesh鈥檚 foreign policy, writer and researcher Altaf Parvez said that rejuvenation of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation would bring solutions to not only transboundary river water sharing issues but to the challenges in market economy and regional security also.
Citing 168 infrastructures built on the upstream of 54 鈥榦fficially recorded鈥� transboundary rivers shared by Bangladesh and India,聽 River and Delta Research Centre chairman Mohammad Azaz warned that unilateral interventions on transboundary rivers for hydropower and water conversion would destabilise the security of the entire region.聽聽
Sheikh Rokon, secretary general of green campaign organisation Riverine People, citing a study, said that Bangladesh and India actually share at least 123 rivers.
He added, 鈥楾he root cause behind the problematic issue of river water sharing lies in the 鈥渦nfair鈥� demarcation of national boundaries during the 1947 partition.鈥�
The discussion began with an essay presentation by independent researcher Afifa Razzaque Muna, who questioned Bangladesh鈥檚 failed political approaches despite several state wings, including five directorates, were deployed to negotiate the transboundary rivers鈥� water sharing issue.
Chaired by Unity for Bangladesh spokesperson Manzur Moin, the programme was addressed, among others, by former adviser to the caretaker government Hossain Zillur Rahman, Dhaka University鈥檚 department of oriental art teacher Dipti Rani Datta, and Communist Party of Bangladesh presidium member Abdullah Al Kafi Ratan.