Bangladesh may review MoUs with India if they are not beneficial for it, says Dhaka official
The country’s foreign affairs advisor said that memoranda of understanding are not agreements, and can be revised.
Bangladesh may review memoranda of understanding signed with India in June if they are not beneficial to its interests, said the country’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Touhid Hossain on Sunday, according to The Daily Star.
On June 22, during former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India, the two countries signed ten memoranda of understanding. Seven of them were new ones, while three were renewed.
On Sunday, Hossain said that memoranda of understanding are not agreements and can be revised. “If the Bangladesh government thinks those MoUs are not beneficial, those can always be reviewed,” he said.
To a question on whether Hasina, who fled to India after being ousted on August 5, would be extradited, the official said that Dhaka would seek extradition if needed. “Whether or not she will be extradited depends on India,” he said.
Hasina resigned as prime minister on August 5 in the wake of widespread protests against her Awami League government. Three days later, Nobel laureate economist Muhammad Yunus took over as the head of the country’s interim government.
On Sunday, Bangladesh’s advisor on water resources Syeda Rizwana Hasan said that the interim government in Dhaka wants to restart dialogue on the Teesta water-sharing treaty with India, PTI reported.
“I have discussed the issue of Teesta water sharing with all relevant stakeholders [in Bangladesh],” the water resources advisor Syeda Rizwana Hasan said. “We have discussed that we need to restart the process and dialogue regarding the Teesta treaty. We also have to work on the Ganges treaty, which is coming to an end in two years.”
The two countries were set to finalise a deal on sharing Teesta river water in 2011. However, the deal was shelved as the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee opposed it.
The treaty between Bangladesh and India for sharing of the water from river Ganga was signed in 1996 and will expire in 2026, when it completes its 30-year term.