Dhaka: Bangladesh has said that it wants an assurance from India on the Teesta water treaty. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is in Dhaka and several agreements are on the cards.
Dark clouds started appearing on the Teesta treaty when, ahead of Dr Singh's visit, Trinamool Chief Mamata Banerjee raised her objection over the water sharing pact. Sulking, she even cancelled her trip with the Prime Minister to Bangladesh.
But Bangladesh is seeking an assurance from Dr Singh that stalling of pact is temporary. Sheikha Hasina government contends that it will be difficult to explain to people if the pact is not signed.
Hours before leaving for Bangladesh, the Prime Minister assured Mamata Banerjee that "nothing will be done that will harm Bengal's interests".
Ms Banerjee has opted out of the Prime Minister's two-day visit to Bangladesh, upset over the final draft of the Teesta river water sharing pact which is believed to have earmarked more water for Bangladesh than stipulated in the earlier draft.
While Ms Banerjee has pulled out, chief ministers from Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram-states bordering Bangladesh-are part of the PM's delegation.
The two nations are also expected to tackle tensions over trade barriers and transit links. They also plan to resolve disputes over their 4,096-kilometre border.
There are 111 Indian enclaves inside Bangladesh and 51 Bangladeshi ones inside India, with a combined population of 51,000, according to a recent survey jointly conducted by the two governments. These issues have being pending for almost 40 years now ever since Bangladesh became an independent country.
The residents of the enclaves have been compared to stateless people, without any of the services offered in either country and no one to take responsibility for them.
Dr Singh the first Indian Prime Minister to pay a bilateral visit in 12 years to Bangladesh and that itself shows how the relationships have been over the past decade. Therefore, this visit is being described in various ways historic as game changer and significant visit.
Both India and Bangladesh would like to take this relationship to a level where there is an incremental increase in their cooperation rather than spectacular treaties and then some dip in the relationship.
Dark clouds started appearing on the Teesta treaty when, ahead of Dr Singh's visit, Trinamool Chief Mamata Banerjee raised her objection over the water sharing pact. Sulking, she even cancelled her trip with the Prime Minister to Bangladesh.
But Bangladesh is seeking an assurance from Dr Singh that stalling of pact is temporary. Sheikha Hasina government contends that it will be difficult to explain to people if the pact is not signed.
Hours before leaving for Bangladesh, the Prime Minister assured Mamata Banerjee that "nothing will be done that will harm Bengal's interests".
Ms Banerjee has opted out of the Prime Minister's two-day visit to Bangladesh, upset over the final draft of the Teesta river water sharing pact which is believed to have earmarked more water for Bangladesh than stipulated in the earlier draft.
While Ms Banerjee has pulled out, chief ministers from Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram-states bordering Bangladesh-are part of the PM's delegation.
The two nations are also expected to tackle tensions over trade barriers and transit links. They also plan to resolve disputes over their 4,096-kilometre border.
There are 111 Indian enclaves inside Bangladesh and 51 Bangladeshi ones inside India, with a combined population of 51,000, according to a recent survey jointly conducted by the two governments. These issues have being pending for almost 40 years now ever since Bangladesh became an independent country.
The residents of the enclaves have been compared to stateless people, without any of the services offered in either country and no one to take responsibility for them.
Dr Singh the first Indian Prime Minister to pay a bilateral visit in 12 years to Bangladesh and that itself shows how the relationships have been over the past decade. Therefore, this visit is being described in various ways historic as game changer and significant visit.
Both India and Bangladesh would like to take this relationship to a level where there is an incremental increase in their cooperation rather than spectacular treaties and then some dip in the relationship.
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