India is yet to respond to Bangladesh’s formal request to begin talks on renewing the Ganges Water Treaty, which is due to expire in December.
A senior official at the foreign ministry said Dhaka sent the request in June, but no response had been received.
“The formal request was sent in June and we are yet to get any response from them. The talks need to begin before the treaty expires,” the official told TIMES.
Former ambassador Mehdi Hasan said the two countries should begin discussions without delay.
“It is better to start the negotiation sooner than later. The engagement must start, and here I would like to refer to the Framework Agreement on Cooperation for Development signed between the two countries in 2011, where both the countries agreed to explore options for river basin management,” he said.
Realities, including water requirements and climate change, have changed over the past 30 years, making it imperative to look at water issues through basin-wide management rather than only sharing water from a single river at a fixed location. However, this may take time. Until a new agreed approach is reached, the current agreement may continue, he said.
He said Dhaka and Delhi should engage on a range of issues, including water, security, connectivity, trade and energy, while working to resolve their differences.
“There is mistrust in the relationship and efforts should be made to reduce the gap to have a workable relationship,” he said.
Mehdi described the Ganges treaty as a “litmus test” for bilateral ties, saying India needed to translate its positive signals into concrete action.
“India has sent lots of positive signals, and it is time to translate those into reality,” he said.
Bangladesh and India signed the Ganges Water Treaty in 1996 for a 30-year period. Its expiry in December makes the renewal process an immediate priority for Dhaka.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir on Sunday told journalists at the foreign ministry that Bangladesh wanted to establish a new relationship with India.
“We want to reset the bilateral relationship. We want to move away from the uncomfortable relationship we had with an authoritarian, corrupt and looting government for the past 15 years and move towards a new relationship – one that should be through bilateral discussions,” he said.
He also urged journalists to move away from what he described as an excessive focus on India and concentrate more on domestic matters.
Relations between Dhaka and Delhi have remained strained following the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who has been living in India.
On 5 August, the Indian government allowed Hasina to attend a virtual press conference in New Delhi, during which she spoke against the BNP government. Dhaka reacted sharply to the event.
Bangladesh High Commissioner to India M Riaz Hamidullah recently said bilateral ties with New Delhi could not move forward without “dignity, mutual trust and respect”.
Speaking at the India Today Brics Roundtable, he was responding to a question about whether one person could hold the bilateral relationship “hostage”.
Hamidullah said the concerns and sentiments of the Bangladeshi people could not be ignored.
“If you hear the word dignity, mutual trust, respect and aspirations of people. If these are not addressed and the sense of Bangladesh’s demography is not understood, it would become difficult for any country to move,” he said.
“If you have trampled rights or if things are literally brutalised, which has happened absolutely, there’s little room for any other discussion,” he added.
The envoy’s remarks came a month after Hasina addressed the virtual press conference from India on 5 August.
Against this backdrop, the renewal of the Ganges treaty is emerging as an early opportunity for Dhaka and Delhi to demonstrate whether their stated interest in improving ties can lead to substantive bilateral engagement.
