January 21, 2006	Saturday	Zilhaj 20, 1426

DHAKA, Jan 20: An India-Bangladesh dialogue of young leaders held here earlier this week called for a joint monitoring of common rivers and a mechanism for getting access to the latest data to ensure ‘fair and equitable’ sharing of water.

The conference also made an impassioned appeal to the two governments and civil society leaders to realize the sufferings caused to the people living in frontier areas because of boundary disputes and barbed-wire fencing.

Politicians, academics, development practitioners and journalists participated in the three-day event — Bangladesh-India Dialogue for Young Leaders — organized by the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute. The conference ended on Thursday.

“You have to go to the affected people in the border areas, as decision by Dhaka and Delhi is a long-term issue… Please also let civil societies of countries of the region come up with initiatives to press the governments [to come to terms],’ said Paula Bannerjee of the Mahanirban Research Group.

Another participant proposed a joint study on the livelihood patterns of the people along the border and relaxed visa procedures initially for them to smoothen cooperation and interaction among the people.

Prof Mahendra Lama of Jawaharlal Nehru University suggested that Bangladesh should work for implementing the tri-national gas pipeline from Myanmar to India and admitted that New Delhi opposes third party involvement in its foreign policy pursuits.

Asif Nazrul, a law professor at Dhaka University, blamed India for ‘too much bilateralism’ in a paper on ‘Interlinking of rivers and water-sharing issues’, mentioned that there is no arrangement for conservation of waters.