Teesta water deal to be signed soon: Sheikh Hasina

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Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said India and Bangladesh will soon ink a pact on Teesta water sharing, but refused to specify any timeline for the landmark deal.

“I will not mention any specific timeline for it. Rather, I will say that it is a matter of time. The two countries will ink the Teesta deal through discussion," Hasina told top leaders of the ruling Awami League in the capital.

Amid disappointment in Bangladesh over the government's failure to ink the deal with India during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's September 6-7 visit to Dhaka, she asked the people not to get frustrated.

Addressing a joint meeting of Awami League Central Working Committee and party advisory council in the capital on Friday, Hasina gave an assurance that the treaty will be signed with India soon, according to Star online, the website of The Daily Star.

She blamed non-Awami League government for failing to take initiative to establish Bangladesh's right to equal share of water of common rivers including the Teesta. The failure to sign the deal on Teesta water sharing cast a shadow over the two-day visit of the Manmohan Singh.

Prime Minister Singh has said all technicalities of an agreement on Teesta river water-sharing were settled but West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's disagreement with it led to the cancellation of its signing.

However, India has expressed the hope that the two neighbours would be able arrive at an agreement on the sharing of the waters of the Teesta.

During Singh's visit, India and Bangladesh inked various pacts, including a long-term Comprehensive Framework Agreement on Cooperation and Development that sets out the vision, principles and modalities of bilateral relationship.