India-Bangladesh to hold talks on Teesta water sharing post elections

Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud today said Dhaka and New Delhi will advance the discussion on much-awaiting Teesta water sharing treaty after the upcoming general election scheduled to be held in April-May this year.  
      
“The election procedure will start in India from next month, the polls will be held in April-May … we discussed that we would advance the matter (Teesta water sharing deal) after the Indian election,” he told journalists at a briefing at his ministry in Dhaka this afternoon.  
 
Hasan Mahmud made the remark referring his meeting with his Indian counterpart Dr. S. Jaishankar that was held in New Delhi on Wednesday last week during his maiden bilateral meeting to India after assuming the office as the foreign minister.

“There is no objection of Indian central government over the Teesta deal, objection was made by (West Bengal) the state government,” he said.

During the meeting, Mahmud said, he also stressed on the renewal of the Ganges water-sharing treaty that is set to expire in 2026.

Regarding the border killing along the Bangladesh-India frontier, he said, both the foreign ministers reiterated the consensus on earlier decision of not using any lethal weapon along the border to avoid any tragic incident.  
  
“He agreed with me that if non-lethal weapon is used at the border area, such incident (killing) will be reduced. We expressed our consensus on the issue,” he said adding that he also discussed on security cooperation between the two neighboring countries.  

Mahmud said they have also discussed the current conflicting situation of Myanmar in details and agreed to work together on the issue as both the countries are sharing their borders with that country.

The Bangladesh foreign minister said he also reiterated Dhaka’s urge to Delhi on Indian support to repatriate forcibly displaced Rohingyas to their land of origin in Myanmar with all citizen rights.