#Bangladesh: India's Reckless Actions Are Worsening the Flood Crisis in Southeast Bangladesh
For the first time in generations, Bangladesh's entire southeastern region is facing its worst flooding in history affecting millions of people. The cause? Indian authorities opened the gates of the Dumbur Reservoir in Tripura for the first time in three decades, releasing massive volumes of water into an already rain-soaked region.
(Read: https://t.co/Cnp1TjrTxE}
Could there have been flooding without India opening the Dumbur Reservoir gates? Perhaps yes, but on a significantly smaller scale. The sudden release of water from the dam has inundated the region to an extent it hasn't experienced in generations.
International law obliges India to notify Bangladesh of any actions that could cause significant harm downstream. Yet, India's failure to notify Bangladesh before opening the gates has caused significant distress and damage.
Unfortunately, the Dumbur Reservoir is just one of many dams India has built on the rivers that flow into Bangladesh. Of the 54 transboundary rivers shared between the two countries, India has constructed dams on at least 30 of them, with the Farakka Dam being the most infamous for its catastrophic impact on northern Bangladesh.
India's unilateral construction of dams and its arbitrary control of water flows have become a constant threat to Bangladesh, causing either drought or flooding downstream. This reckless behavior has devastated millions of lives and wreaked havoc on the environment. For example, over 80% of Bangladesh's 20 million small farmers depend on water flowing through these transboundary rivers to grow rice. (Source: https://t.co/t0Fo6jP5bP)
By inflicting such widespread damage, India is effectively breaching international law on a regular basis. Here are some of the key obligations that India is failing to uphold:
1) Under Articles 5 and 6 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (1997), upstream and downstream countries have the right to equitably and reasonably utilize shared waters.
2) Article 7 of the 1997 Convention, along with customary international law, obliges upstream countries, like India, to prevent significant harm to downstream nations, such as Bangladesh.
3) The Espoo Convention (1991) and customary international law mandate that upstream countries notify and consult with downstream states before undertaking any activities that could significantly affect shared waters.
Yet, India has consistently ignored these obligations and has never acknowledged the rights of Bangladesh and its people under international law.
Despite these hostile actions, Indian officials continue to claim that they are friendly neighbors—yet they wonder why Bangladeshis hold such deep resentment against them.
Is India truly a friendly neighbor to Bangladesh? Their actions speak louder than their words.
A country where minorities are forced to chant 'Jai Shree Ram' in the streets should not lecture others about minority rights. In no Muslim-majority country are non-Muslims forced to say, 'La Ilaha Illallah.'
Indian media environment is horrendous right now.
“Rumor Scanner revealed that 72% of the accounts spreading fake and misleading information about communal violence in Bangladesh claimed to be based in India, with over 154 million views across 50 accounts.”https://t.co/HtLxCmwEqY
#Bangladesh's information adviser Nahid Islam thinks that the handling of the Sagar-Runi murder case ''has been a farce.'' His ministry will investigate it. Here's my old story about the killing of the journalist couple that happened years ago in Dhaka. https://t.co/ZS2cLqMiSJ
You Indians don't respect Muslims there. Can you give them their true right? The answer will be no.. And yet you guys are after spreading false information. Shameful really.
🚨 বিহারে মুসলিম কিশোরকে পিটিয়ে ❛জয় শ্রীরাম❜ বলতে বাধ্য করছে হিন্দু সহপাঠীরা!
বিহারের মুজফফরপুরে রিহান নামের দ্বাদশ শ্রেণীতে পড়ুয়া এক মুসলিম কিশোরকে জঙ্গলে নিয়ে গিয়ে পিটিয়ে ❛জয় শ্রীরাম❜ স্লোগান দিতে বাধ্য করে তার হিন্দু সহপাঠীরা। এসময় রিহানকে চড়-থাপ্পড় মারতে মারতে মাটিতে ফেলে তার বুকের ওপর পা দিয়ে চেপে ধরে তাকে ❛জয় শ্রীরাম❜ বলানোর চেষ্টা করা হয়।
ভিডিওটি সোস্যাল মিডিয়ায় ভাইরাল হলে, ব্যাপক ক্ষোভের সৃষ্টি হয় এবং ঘটনায় জড়িত তিনজনকে গ্রেপ্তার করে পুলিশ।
#India #Bihar #Muzaffarpur #Islamophobia