Let's focus on achievements

Manik Sarkar

Chief Minister of Tripura Manik Sarkar said the Indian prime minister's recent visit to Dhaka may have had more misses than hits but the achievements should not be overshadowed by disappointments.
His remarks came after India backed off from the Teesta water-sharing deal during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's two-day Dhaka visit. The Teesta deal postponement also led to the Feni water-sharing deal being shelved and deferment of the exchange of letter of intent about India's transit facility, which India has been pressing for.
Manik favoured stressing on the achievements that came out of the summit meeting instead of focusing on the failures. He gave importance to the comprehensive framework agreement on cooperation and duty-free entry of 46 Bangladesh garment items to India.
''Except for one or two issues, we have achievements. We should be careful that too much emphasis on misses does not bury the successes,'' Manik said in an interview with The Daily Star on Wednesday.
''It would have been much better if we could reach an agreement on the remaining issues. As it was not done, we will wait for them to realise,'' said the politician, who has been serving as the chief minister of Indian north-eastern state Tripura since 1998.
During the September 6-7 visit of Manmohan, the two countries also signed deals on demarcation of 6.5km of land boundary, exchange of enclaves and adversely possessed land and agreed to cooperate on Bangladesh's rail traffic to Nepal.
He said people expected a lot from Manmohan's visit to Dhaka, and the postponement of the water-sharing deal of Teesta and Feni rivers as well as transit has strained the relations between the two neighbours to some extent. He, however, added, ''There is no reason to see that our bilateral relations have gone one step back. There is no reason to perceive that no resolution means that the process is a failure.''
He said he did not know what sort of objections Paschimbanga government raised against the Teesta deal but hoped that a reasonable solution protecting the interests of all could be reached later.
''I believe, we will find out a solution.''
On the failure to make headway in the transit issue, he said Tripura will continue developing infrastructure including roads and railways so that it can take advantage of the transit facilities after the agreement and other issues are settled.
''As transit did not take shape this time, it will later on. It is not that it has been dropped. None of the government said that,'' he said, arguing that a relegation of achievements creates scope for those who do not want a good, longstanding and deep relation between Bangladesh and India.
The chief minister said Tripura does not want Bangladeshi exporters to face tariff and non-tariff barriers in India and that they have talked about eliminating the hassles for businessmen seeking Indian visa.
''It has just begun and the door has opened up. There will be a snowball effect of it. So why are we undermining these achievements,'' said Manik.
He said that in various forums he suggests India should not behave like a big brother while dealing with Bangladesh or any other country. Relations will not be good unless friendly nations are treated like equals.