Prof. Aninun Nishat, a leading water resource and climate change specialist in Dhaka. Photo: Special arrangement
NEW DELHI India’s decision to hold the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan ‘in abeyance’ has proved that India will not hesitate to use water as a “weapon” in case political relations with common riparian neighbours nosedive, a leading water expert of Bangladesh has remarked.
Speaking to The Hindu, Prof. Aninun Nishat, a leading water resource and climate change specialist in Dhaka said the decision to freeze the Indus Waters Treaty has “cast a shadow” on the prospects of renewal of the 1996 Ganga Waters Agreement.
“When Dhaka signed the Indo-Bangladesh Ganga Water Treaty, there were doubts on our side on whether India would really share Ganga’s waters as promised as the actual control of the river is with India. The Indus Waters Treaty is a big treaty that was ratified by the Indian parliament. Critics here can cite the decision on Indus and argue that India’s assurances on the Ganga equally has no value,” said Prof. Nishat who has been part of several river-related discussions between India and Bangladesh.
The Indo-Bangladesh Ganga Water Treaty was signed on December 12, 1996 between Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during what was the first prime ministerial tenure of Sheikh Hasina. The treaty provides Bangladesh with a minimum flow of water during the lean seasons and it can be renewed with “mutual consent” after three decades. Accordingly, the treaty will come up for renewal in 2026. “Renewal of the Ganga treaty will come up next year but if India continues to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance then it will create doubts about India’s willingness on sharing of river waters with Bangladesh,” said Prof. Nishat.
The renewal of the Indo-Bangladesh Ganga Water Treaty has featured in official talks between the two on multiple occasions in the recent past. The matter came up during the June 2024 India visit by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina which was her last state visit before the uprising of July-August 2024 that led to her flight from Bangladesh.
Subsequently, the interim government under Chief Advisor Prof. Mohammed Yunus has maintained the dialogue on Ganga. A meeting of the technical teams of the Joint Rivers Commission of India and Bangladesh was held in Kolkata on March 6, 2025 where the main subject of discussion was the Indo-Bangladesh Ganga Water Treaty. The Bangladesh team also visited the joint observation site at Farakka on this occasion.
Prof. Nishat said treaties are legal documents and it is generally understood that such documents would remain unaffected by political sentiments. “But in the case of Indus, it appears that the political sentiment can affect the legal document,” said Prof. Nishat hinting that India is not averse to using water as a “weapon” if political differences increase. “Apart from Ganga, Bangladesh also has the issue of the sharing of Teesta’s waters and Dhaka has agreed to China’s participation in management of Teesta in Bangladesh,” the professor said, explaining that political differences between Bangladesh and India have been increasing in recent months.
Under the interim government led by Prof. Yunus, which is against many initiatives of the Hasina era, Dhaka has warmed up its relations with China as well as Pakistan. Last week, Pakistan and Bangladesh had a rare Foreign Secretary-level talk in Dhaka which was to be followed by a visit of the Foreign Minister of Pakistan Ishaq Dar who has courted controversy by describing the terrorists responsible for the massacre in Pahalgam as “freedom fighters”. Mr. Dar’s visit to Dhaka has been cancelled for the time being in view of the prevailing India-Pak tension.
Published – April 26, 2025 12:12 am IST
