Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri    

Avoids naming Teesta accord row, holds meeting with PM Modi for 30 minutes

India and Bangladesh have settled many issues through mutual talks in the past... However, some issues are yet to be addressed.
SHEIKH HASINA, Bangladesh PM

SANTINIKETAN: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is on a two-day visit to India, on Friday sought the help of India and other countries to put pressure on the Myanmar government to take back Rohingya refugees camped in her country.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled into Bangladesh to escape a military crackdown launched in August last year in response to Rohingya insurgent attacks. She was addressing a gathering after jointly inaugurating the newly constructed Bangladesh Bhavan with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Visva Bharati University at Santiniketan in West Bengal.

She said her government was compelled to help Rohingya refugees from Myanmar on humanitarian ground.

“As I said before, if Bangladesh can feed 16 crore people, it can provide food to a few lakh more. If we run short of resources, we can share our food with them. But I earnestly want the Rohingyas to return to their homeland. All countries in the region should cooperate with each other and put pressure on the Myanmar government to settle this issue,” Hasina said.

On bilateral issues with India, she said there were “some issues” between the two countries that should be settled through cooperation, apparently alluding to the contentious Teesta water dispute.

“India and Bangladesh have settled many issues through mutual talks in the past. For

example, I was touched by the proactive role played by all political parties in India in settling the land boundary issues. People living in enclaves along the border of our countries for decades found home,” Hasina said, referring to the historic agreement the two countries signed in 2015 to swap some 200 tiny enclaves dotted around the border.

“However, some issues are yet to be addressed. I would not like to rake up these issues on this special occasion,” she added.

The Teesta water-sharing deal between the two countries got stuck as West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is opposed to it on the ground that the river doesn’t have enough water flowing down it to share with Bangladesh.

After the inauguration programme, Hasina had a 30-minute long closed-door meeting with Modi. Banerjee did not attend the meeting. She left Santiniketan immediately after the function without even having lunch at the venue.

Banerjee is, however, scheduled to meet Hasina in Kolkata on Saturday afternoon.

“The Teesta issue might come up for discussion at the meeting. The two leaders are also expected to talk on the Rohingya issue,” said a senior state government official who did not wish to be named.

Earlier, while addressing the 49th convocation at the university, Modi urged the students to turn 100 villages around Santiniketan self-sufficient by 2021 to mark the centenary celebration of the institution set up by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

“The villages should have power and LPG, children should receive vaccines, villagers should be able to fill up digital forms,” Modi said.

It was Modi’s first visit to Visva Bharati as Prime Minister. This is the only central university of which the Prime Minister is the chancellor.

Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri sumanta.chaudhuri@hindustantimes.com  

Courtesy: Hindustan Ttimes:26 May 2018