By Usman Khan

The incumbent Bangladeshi Prime Minister and India’s Prime Minister meet at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, India and held talks on September 6, 2022. Seven MoUs were signed during the Bangladeshi prime minister’s visit but no development was made on settling a deal on the Teesta. Bangladeshi Prime Minister Visit to India on September 5 to 8 saw the two sides signing seven Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs).

These envisage cooperation in the areas of river water sharing, space, science and technology, broadcasting, and capacity building among railway and judicial personnel of the two countries. Leading among the pacts signed following talks between Bangladeshi PM and her Indian counterpart in New Delhi was the MoU to finalize a temporary bilateral agreement on the withdrawal of water from the common border river, the Kushiyara.

The water distribution is an important item on the agenda of the India-Bangladesh relationship, given that the two countries share 54 trans-boundary rivers. The pact reached on the Kushiyara is the first that the two neighbors have signed in 25 years.

Bangladesh has been eager for a treaty on the distribution of the waters of the River Teesta. The text of a pact relating to this, which gives India the right to 42.5 percent of this river’s water and Bangladesh the right to 37.5 percent, has existed for over a decade. An agreement was to be signed in September 2011 during the visit of the then Indian Prime Minister to Dhaka. However, India pulled out and a treaty remains indefinable to date.

In Delhi, the PM of Bangladesh reminded her hosts to accomplish a treaty on the Teesta at an early date. India and Bangladesh have prioritized connectivity between the two countries. During Bangladeshi PM visit, the Indian PM pointed out that “growth of connectivity and trade substructure at borders will help in the development of both countries.

Earlier in April, when India’s Foreign Minister was in Dhaka, PM of Bangladesh had offered India access to its Chattogram port. The need to improve the connectivity. India’s North-eastern provinces Assam and Tripura could have access to Chattogram port if the countries’ connectivity is improved.

The two prime ministers talked about connectivity during their talks in Delhi. There were several burning issues that Bangladesh would have wanted to be addressed at the Prime Minister-level discussions. One is the killing of Bangladeshi nationals by Indian border guards. In July 2019. Bangladesh’s Home Minister informed parliament that 294 Bangladeshis had been killed by India’s Border Security Force in the last decade.

As Bangladesh is taking care of over a million Rohingyas refugees, which is a strain on its resources. Since India maintains good relations with the Myanmar government, the issue of Rohingya repatriation could have been discussed during the talks. Bangladeshi PM should have sought India’s help in repatriating Rohingyas.

Bangladesh’s economy is showing a downward trend in the internal misuse of money on mega projects and in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Bangladesh have sought India’s help in the import of Russian wheat and oil. Instead of addressing these important matters, the two sides discussed some minor issues.

The Bangladesh PM had undertaken the visit to Delhi with an eye on general elections to be held in 2023. She would have hoped to hold up some achievements from the visit which did not happen. As what was signed in New Delhi, could have been signed by other officers, not by a Prime Minister. As the last two elections in Bangladesh in 2014 and 2018 were claimed to rigged and unfair by the International human rights organizations which had drawn attention to the flawed elections.

Keeping India happy is not an easy task for Bangladesh, particularly at a time when the Bangladesh is under pressure from China, which is carefully watching Bangladesh’s moves with regard to its associations with India and the U.S. China has already warned Bangladesh that if it joins the Quad, Sino-Bangladesh relations will be crushed. China is a strategic partner of Bangladesh. It is Dhaka’s main trade partner. At a time when Bangladesh’s economy is decreasing, which is reflected in its reducing forex reserves, Dhaka desires and need the Chinese support.