Tiptoe after Teesta dive - River fallout on transit deal

Sheikh Hasina with Manmohan Singh at Dhaka airport on Tuesday. Picture by Amit Datta

Dhaka, Sept. 6: India today desisted from pushing Bangladesh hard on a keenly awaited transit treaty and offered trade concessions to ensure that Sheikh Hasina is insulated from any domestic backlash arising from Delhi’s inability to deliver a Teesta treaty.

The first bilateral visit by a Prime Minister to Dhaka in 12 years appears to have yielded a lower-than-expected outcome but Delhi was treading with extreme caution after it shelved the Teesta agreement following objections from Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Although Prime Ministers Hasina and Manmohan Singh described the moment as “historic”, it was clear that New Delhi’s principal objective was to make matters as less difficult as possible for the Bangladesh government that had addressed India’s security concerns over the past few months.

The caution that Delhi did not display in the run-up to the visit and while dealing with Mamata was in evidence today.

“Our common rivers need not be sources of discord, but can become the harbingers of prosperity to both our countries. We have decided to continue discussions to reach a mutually acceptable, fair and amicable arrangement for the sharing of the Teesta and Feni river waters,” Singh said, confirming indirectly that the deal Mamata opposed would not be signed.

Hasina, whose foreign minister had yesterday said the water-sharing agreement would be signed, played the gracious host and did not raise the issue in public.

Dhaka’s dismay had been articulated in private an hour earlier when Indian high commissioner Rajit Mitter was called by Bangladesh’s foreign ministry and categorically told that there would be no “exchange of letters of intent” if the Teesta deal is shelved. It was apparent that the transit deal got entwined with the failure to ink the Teesta pact.

Manmohan Singh pays tribute to the martyrs of the Liberation War of 1971 at the National Mausoleum at Savar, 35km from Dhaka, his first stop in Bangladesh. (AFP)

The transit letters of intent were a crucial part of the bouquet to be unwrapped during Singh’s visit. They would have allowed India to help Bangladesh build infrastructure for facilitating transit of goods between the Northeast and the rest of India. The route, now circuitous and inordinately long, will become drastically shorter if Bangladesh allows India access through its territory.

Aware that any such deal against the backdrop of the Teesta fiasco would have gifted the rivals of Hasina, considered pro-India, an incendiary issue, Delhi did not try hard to turn Dhaka around, sources said. Hasina is already facing criticism at home.

For the moment, India has not got permission to use Bangladesh’s southern seaports of Chittagong and Mongla either.

The two Prime Ministers signed an agreement to draw up the framework for co-operation on development and oversaw the signing of nine separate pacts, including one to demarcate enclaves.

Singh announced that India would give free access to 60 Bangladeshi products, including textiles, to the Indian markets.

“Delhi at no point can make Hasina look bad. So they will make some concessions for her. Thus the announcement to provide duty-free access to the Indian market was a placatory move. The resolution of the long-standing border problem was also a move in that direction,” said Shaiek Rahman, a Dhaka-based political analyst.

Since the Teesta treaty and the transit letters were not on the table, the deals fell short of expectation. “The outcome of the Indian Prime Minister’s visit fell substantially short of expectation,” said Debapriya Bhattacharya of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, a Dhaka-based think-tank.

“A treaty on sharing Teesta waters has remained a topic of discussion since the time our Prime Minister visited India in January 2010. It is surprising that a deal could not be thrashed out in around 20 months,” said Mahfuj Anam, the editor of Daily Star.

Teesta had to be struck off the list at the last moment after Mamata cited adverse impact on north Bengal and skipped the trip.

Bangladesh foreign secretary Mijarul Quayes said: “We already have our final draft. We are hopeful that the deal will fall into place sooner rather than later.” His comments made it clear it was Delhi that couldn’t manage its own.

Indian foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai cited the border enclave agreement to say “there is a new paradigm of collaboration between the two countries and that is significant”.

However, Anam, the editor, said: “These issues have been pending for long and one cannot call them a breakthrough.”