NEW DELHI: Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Syed Muazzem Ali on Thursday reiterated Dhaka’s zero-tolerance policy on terrorism and its resolve not to allow any terrorist group to use its soil to launch any attack against India.
Delivering a talk on the “current state of India-Bangladesh relations and its future” at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) in New Delhi, he said the issue had “bedevilled Indo-Bangladesh ties in the past,” but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had brought the situation under control.
According to Ali, Sheikh Hasina has worked tirelessly to restore mutual trust and cooperation, and there was a positive change in bilateral ties. “There is now a greater recognition on both sides that the destinies of our two countries are inescapably intertwined and we must grow together,” he said.
“We have to proceed with a view to establishing a win-win equation for the benefit of our two countries and for the entire region,” he said, citing growing defence ties, energy, bilateral and dub-regional connectivity, trade and commerce, water sharing, line of credit and people-to-people contact as examples of the rapidly improving engagement.
Referring to the Teesta water sharing agreement which has been held up due to the intransigence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, he said “Bangladesh is eagerly looking forward to an early conclusion” of the agreement. Recalling the Ganges water sharing agreement signed between the two countries during Sheikh Hasina’s first term, he said the two nations need to step up cooperation in joint management of 54 common rivers.
He also urged India to continue to play a crucial in persuading Myanmar for the early and secured repatriation of the Rohingya refugees sheltered in Bangladesh. “We believe that sustained international pressure on Myanmar would be a catalyst for a long-term solution,” he said.