The government is determined to renegotiate the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty, which expires in December, with India while preserving the rights of the Bangladeshi people, Water Resources Minister Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anee said yesterday.
He expressed hope that the treaty would be renewed soon but said the government was also ready to approach international forums to protect the country’s rights, if needed.
“We must sign a treaty. Without a treaty, we have no way forward. This is our right,” he said while speaking as the chief guest at a seminar titled “Ganges Water Treaty: Issues for Renegotiation” at the Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs (BILIA) auditorium.
“If we need to go to any international forum to make it happen, we are ready for that,” he added.
Anee said the renewed treaty should include a guarantee clause similar to the one in the 1977 Ganges Water Treaty.
He also said construction of the Padma barrage, an electoral pledge of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, would begin next January or February. The ministry is giving the project top priority as it is expected to benefit 26 districts, he said.
Anee expressed hope that India would recognise and respect the sentiments and rights of the Bangladeshi people.
“We desire a friendly relationship with our neighbours, but friendship must be built on mutual respect for national interests,” he said, referring to recent diplomatic engagements.
The minister said Bangladeshis had long viewed the Farakka Barrage as a “death trap”. He said India had built barrages and around 900 embankments along the Ganges after Farakka, which had strained relations between the two countries.
As a result, people in Bangladesh had developed a negative perception of India, he said.
Anee also said past bilateral relations had often been shaped by perceived Indian support for a specific political party rather than broader consideration of the interests of the Bangladeshi people.
“We hope that those officials who are coming here to invite our prime minister would realise, prioritise and respect the interests of Bangladesh and its people. That’s what we want,” he added.
Prof Asif Nazrul, former adviser to the interim government, presented the keynote paper at the seminar.
He said Bangladesh needs to pursue a basin-wide water management framework with a guarantee clause as it navigates the complexities of shared water resources with India.
One of the major weaknesses of the 1996 Ganges Water Treaty is that it lacks the guarantee clause included in the 1977 agreement, which guaranteed a minimum volume of water regardless of upstream consumption, he said.
Referring to several water withdrawal projects built upstream of the Ganges since the 1970s, he alleged that India had refused to discuss or include upstream water in negotiations.
Asif Nazrul said India has been pursuing its National River Linking Project, which plans to divert water from Himalayan river basins, including the Ganges, to southwestern India. This inter-basin transfer project will impact nearly all of Bangladesh’s transboundary rivers.
Citing a World Bank study on Bangladesh’s water resources sector, he said the combined impact of the Farakka Barrage and upstream diversions would render the Ganges-Kobadak (G-K) Project non-functional.
He said any future talks must cover the entire river basin and should include provisions for environmental protection.
He said that, under the interim government, Bangladesh acceded to the 1992 UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes. The convention mandates ecological river management, groundwater protection, and basin-wide transboundary water management.
As a state party, Bangladesh can base its arguments on these established legal obligations, he said.
He emphasised institutional capacity building and ensuring that the representatives at the JRC are equipped to defend national sovereignty.
Forhad Hossain Azad MP, the state minister for water resources, said the ministry has taken an initiative to dig 20,000km of canals to prevent groundwater depletion.
He also said the ministry is preparing for a treaty that will have a clause like the 1977 treaty that ensured a minimum share of water.
Feroze Ahmed, professor emeritus, Stamford University, said the water Bangladesh receives under the current treaty is negligible, and the entire Southwest region of Bangladesh is suffering due to a lack of adequate water in the Padma river system.
Prof Mohammad Ekramul Haque, dean of the Faculty of Law, DU, delivered his welcome speech, while Prof Borhan Uddin Khan, faculty member, Department of Law, DU, and also chairman of BILIA, presided over the session.
Prof Ruhul Amin, International Relations, DU, and Mohidul Hoque Khan, vice-president of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon, also spoke, among others.