Photo : Collected
With the theme “Water for Peace," World Water Day was celebrated on Thursday. As we all know that the opposite of peace is war, which takes places among countries. In present world ‘war for water’ is silently going on all over the globe.
Because of water pollution, the risk of increasing deadly diseases is high and our existence, too, is at stake.
The crying need for clean and safe water can be realised easily. Water plays an important role in India-Bangladesh relationship as the slight tension between the two countries over water distribution is known to all. Water distribution also plays a key role in the inter-country conflict in many other countries of South Asia
The importance of clean water for a better life cannot be said in words. However, how water can play its role to bring peace between countries and to the people of Bangladesh has become an important issue to discuss on the table.
If we take a look at the picture of our own country, two opposite scenarios will be seen in both northeast and southern region. In Haor and marshlands of Sylhet there lies both tension and competition between groups of local people for water distribution. Fishermen there, need water for aquaculture and farmers want to put dams for agriculture. In the southern part of the country prawns are cultivated by building barrages for miles after miles. The poor people work there as day laborers. Several politicians have a business selling prawns and crabs.
Another picture of war for water can be seen in Gaza. There is no available source of clean water in Gaza to drink. Only 8–9 per cent of the required water is available there. The rest of the water comes after being refined in Israel. Three Israeli companies process and deliver the water after refining it from the sea. The cherry tomato we see in the vegetable markets, Israel has discovered this breed in Gaza from the water of Gaza. When the clash between Israel and Hamas started, Israel stopped providing water to Gaza. At a certain stage, it became tough for a person to have three litres of water in a day. The whole world criticized the decision saying Israel has violated human rights. Still, there found no solution to the scarcity of water in Gaza.
Along with discussions about world peace on World Water Day, we should give our attention to solve the crisis of water in Barendra and Haor areas of southern region.
Messenger/Fameema
