Will go to international forum if we don’t get Teesta river water : Bangladesh Interim Govt threatens India

Rizwana Hasan, Minister of Environment in the interim government, stated that Bangladesh may approach an international forum to resolve the Teesta river water dispute.

Dhaka (Bangladesh) – The interim Government in Bangladesh under the leadership of Muhammad Yunus has threatened to take the Teesta river water dispute to the international forum. Rizwana Hasan, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate change in the interim Government, has said that Bangladesh may consider approaching an international forum to resolve the Teesta river water dispute. We will maintain friendly relations with India; but we will assert our claims and even go to international forums for our just demands. Teesta river originates in the Himalayas. This river flows through the Indian States of Sikkim and Bengal towards Bangladesh.

Referring to Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s stance on Teesta water, Rizwana said, “Mamata Banerjee says, we will not give water to others (Bangladesh) by depriving our own people of water. Therefore, we will present the problems of our people living on the banks of the Teesta. We will not back down from asserting Bangladesh’s right on the waters of the Teesta river.”

Rizwana Hasan also said that the new Government of Bangladesh will hold discussions with the Indian Government regarding the shared rivers including the Teesta. The Joint River Commission is negotiating on Teesta waters. We will also include the people living on the banks of the Teesta in Bangladesh in these negotiations. Whether we get water or not is not in our hands, but we will talk about it. We will make our views very clear to India.

Editorial Perspective

This is just the beginning and from now on, India will get to hear similar language from Bangladesh. India should prepare to teach Bangladesh a lesson for life.