Fisheries and livestock adviser Farida Akhter said on Friday that India must face trial for destroying life and biodiversity in Bangladesh by unilaterally withdrawing river water upstream across the border.
鈥業ndia can be identified as a perpetrator here, because聽 for years it has been usurping our rights and slowly killing our people and animals,鈥� she said while speaking at a discussion in Rajshahi city on Friday evening.
The committee observing the 49th anniversary of the historic Farakka Long March organised the discussion at the Rajshahi College auditorium, commemorating the 1976 Farakka Long March led by Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani.
Adviser Farida Akhter addressed the discussion as chief guest while Rajshahi University vice-chancellor professor Saleh Hasan Naqib, writer and researcher Benzin Khan, Press Institute of Bangladesh director general Faruk Wasif, Dhaka North City Corporation administrator and river researcher Mohammad Azaz, and Rajshahi College principal professor Zuhr Ali addressed the event as honorary guests.
RU registrar and Bangladesh Nodi Bachao Andolan Rajshahi unit president professor Iftikharul Alam presented the keynote speaker with river researcher and the convener of the organising committee Mahbub Siddiqui in the chair.
Farida Akhter said that once the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty with India expired, they would demand their rightful share of water anew.
鈥業f statistics show that more than four crore people are directly affected, they (India) are killers, and they must face trial,鈥� Farida Akhter said, adding, 鈥業t鈥檚 not a matter of deciding whether or not to give us water,鈥� she said.
In his paper, professor Iftikharul Alam pointed out that over four crore people in the northern, southern and central regions were directly affected by the water scarcity due to India鈥檚 arbitrary withdrawal of upstream water across the border, while another two crores were indirectly affected.
