‘Smokescreen’ in India over Ganges treaty extension alarming: IFC

The International Farakka Committee (IFC), a platform working to get water justice, has warned that attempts in India to make Centre-state negotiations over water requirements a precondition for extending the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty with Bangladesh could create a “smokescreen” and jeopardise timely renewal of the landmark accord.

The 30-year treaty, signed by Bangladesh and India in 1996, is due to expire on December 11, 2026, leaving only three months for the two sides to reach an agreement on its extension. In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, IFC leaders said the emerging position in India was reminiscent of the developments that stalled the proposed Teesta water-sharing treaty in 2011 after then West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee opposed the agreement.

The proposed Teesta treaty had been finalised by Dhaka and New Delhi ahead of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Bangladesh on September 6�"7, 2011, but was ultimately not signed because of opposition from the West Bengal government, they said.

The IFC’s warning followed reports in The Hindu and The Indian Express on September 2 that Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had assured Bihar that the state’s water requirements would be taken into consideration before any decision was made on renewing the Ganges treaty.

The assurance reportedly came after the Bihar government pressed New Delhi to address its water demands.

The IFC also pointed to an earlier demand from the West Bengal government that the water requirements of the Kolkata Port and the Hooghly and Bhagirathi rivers be addressed. The issue was raised in India’s Rajya Sabha on August 6 by former Bihar water resources minister Sanjay Jha, while Jaishankar responded in writing on August 28, according to the statement.

Meanwhile, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said on August 21 that negotiations on extending the Ganges treaty were continuing at the technical level. The IFC leaders argued that a decision on a treaty of such political and strategic importance cannot ultimately be left to technical-level negotiations.

They recalled that the 1977 Ganges Water Agreement and the 1996 Ganges Water Sharing Treaty were both concluded through political-level negotiations. The 1977 agreement was signed by Bangladesh’s Rear Admiral Mahbub Ali Khan and India’s Jagjivan Ram, while the 1996 treaty was signed by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda. The committee said Bangladesh had already written to the Indian government seeking an extension of the treaty, but that New Delhi had yet to respond.

“With the treaty set to expire in just three months, the creation of a domestic political narrative around India’s federal water demands before negotiations are concluded or elevated to the political level is alarming,” the IFC leaders said.

The statement was signed by IFC Chief Adviser Prof Jasim Uddin Ahmad; Chairman Syed Tipu Sultan; Secretary General Mohammad Hossain Khan of IFC New York; President Mostafa Kamal Majumder; General Secretary Mahbub Alam; and Joint Secretary Rafiqul Islam Azad of IFC Bangladesh.