Teesta Agreement

Collected The Teesta river flows through India's West Bengal state

Teesta Agreement: Indian government has not failed, says Hasan Mahmud

Asked about the BNP leaders' remarks on the Teesta deal, Dr. Hasan Mahmud said, "We have come a long way on the Teesta deal. We have come a long way with the Indian central government. But according to the Indian constitution, for the agreement, the permission of the state government is required. Since the river Teesta flows into Bangladesh from West Bengal, the approval of the state government is required."

The Information Minister said, "There is no failure of the central government of India here. They are concentrating on the matter. If the state government approves, the agreement will be implemented. They (BNP) also understand it. They pretend not to understand. They are trying to make context even if it is irrelevant. In fact, the BNP is trying to grab at straws because they can't find any other issue."

Regarding the out of jail extension of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, the minister said, "The BNP needs to congratulate the government, especially the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has suspended Begum Khaleda Zia's jail term for six more months on humanitarian grounds. But the BNP has failed to thank her. In fact, the culture of thanking is not nurtured in BNP. They cannot thank anyone."

Asked if there would be any discussion on border killings during the visit of the Indian Prime Minister, Hassan Mahmood said, "There has been a lot of talk about border killings. Border killings have already come down a lot. The border killings that used to take place have come down. But we want zero killing at the borders. It is always being discussed between the border guards of the two countries, it is also being discussed at the foreign ministry level."