Dhaka: A Bangladesh opposition leader has warned against any move to facilitate an Indian transit corridor through the country and called for a fair water-sharing agreement with New Delhi ahead of the expiry of the Ganges treaty in December, according to local media reports.
National Citizen Party (NCP) convener Nahid Islam made the remarks at a rally in Dhaka Friday, accusing Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s government of seeking to facilitate an Indian transit corridor through the country.
He also threatened fresh protests if the Ganges water-sharing agreement was not renewed on terms that protected Bangladesh’s share of the river’s waters, according to Bangladeshi newspaper Prothom Alo and the bdnews24 news website.
The NCP is a political party formed in February 2025 by leaders associated with the student-led movement that played a central role in the July 2024 street protests against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
“Japan is trying to create a corridor through Bangladesh once again. The government is trying to hand over the illegal corridor to India. Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, we want to say clearly that the people of Bangladesh will not accept any such illegal corridor,” bdnews24 quoted Nahid as saying.
Rahman visited Japan from October 26 to 29, during which the two countries agreed to upgrade their Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (BIG-B) initiative into a new strategic cooperation initiative focused on strengthening connectivity, preparing for natural disasters and geopolitical risks, promoting public-private partnerships for economic growth, and cooperation for peace and stability.
The two leaders also agreed to work towards developing the Bay of Bengal region, with Bangladesh as its hub, into a region of shared prosperity. Separately, Japan is supporting the development of the Matarbari deep-sea port in southeastern Bangladesh through financing from its development agency, JICA.
Japanese officials have previously outlined a broader regional connectivity vision centred on the port, envisaging an industrial value chain linking India’s northeastern states with the Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia through Bangladesh.
However, Bangladesh’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir said Friday that no third-country issue was discussed during Rahman’s Japan visit. “We made it very clear… no third country reference. We didn’t go there to discuss the Bay of Bengal because the Bay of Bengal doesn’t belong to us only,” he told reporters, according to Dhaka Tribune.
Kobir said the discussions focused on the economic partnership between Bangladesh and Japan. He added that if matters involving other countries had to be discussed, representatives of those countries would need to be present at the table, UNB news agency reported.
Meanwhile, India October 28 said it would further strengthen its partnership with Japan, including initiatives involving the northeastern states, hours after Bangladesh PM Rahman and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi agreed to enhance regional connectivity and signed agreements providing for additional Japanese assistance to Bangladesh’s Matarbari deep-sea port.
“We have a very strong partnership with Japan. We also have several initiatives involving northeast [India] and Japan, and we would like to further strengthen these linkages,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in New Delhi.
The other major India-related issue raised by Nahid was the Ganges water-sharing treaty, which expires December 12.
Nahid warned that Bangladeshis would take to the streets if the Ganges agreement was not fairly renewed. “This time we will not give up even a single bit of our fair share in the Ganga Water Treaty,” he said, according to bdnews24.
Signed December 12, 1996, the 30-year treaty governs the sharing of the Ganges waters between India and Bangladesh at the Farakka Barrage in West Bengal during the lean season, from January to May.
Bangladesh has been seeking a new or revised, longer-term agreement with a guarantee clause, similar to the one in the 1977 agreement, to protect its share of the river’s waters during the dry season.
India has said that discussions on river-related and water-sharing issues with Bangladesh take place through the bilateral Joint Rivers Commission.
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