Cooch Behar, April 26: A former President of Bangladesh is on a trip to Cooch Behar 87 summers after his birth to cherish the memories of his old days.

Hussain Mummamad Ershad arrived in Dinhata, 25km from here, on April 23 and has been touring Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri districts since.

In 1930, Ershad was born in Dinhata where he was a student of Dinhata High School and the classmate of Kamal Guha, a prominent leader of the Forward Bloc. In 1946, Ershad left Dinhata and moved to east Bengal.

"It is nice to be back in Dinhata and visit the nearby areas. The landscapes here haunts me and I always try to visit the region. I had aspired to make a trip and could finally reach here," the former chief of the army staff of Bangladesh said today.

He was at a relative's place in Batabari, located near Gorumara National Park in Jalpaiguri this afternoon.

During the Bangladesh liberation war, he was held as a prisoner and in 1973, Ershad was repatriated to the nascent nation.

In 1983, he became the president of Bangladesh through a bloodless coup. He was in the post till 1990. Meanwhile, he floated the Jatiya Party.

"This time, he has come to attend a family occasion. We love hearing from him about Bangladesh and his old days," said his nephew Zakaria Hussain.

Today, Ershad visited the Cooch Behar palace. Speaking to newspersons, he referred to the Teesta water sharing issue and echoed the demand of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

"We don't want water of any other river. We want the water of the Teesta. We believe our demand is justified. Mamata (Banerjee) is a Bengali. She can easily understand the plight of Bangladesh. Earlier, she might have disagreed due to political reasons and elections. But there is no immediate panchayat or Parliament polls," Ershad said.

The chief minister had said in Cooch Behar yesterday that the state couldn't provide Teesta water to Bangladesh as it would leave several areas of north Bengal dry.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY OUR JALPAIGURI CORRESPONDENT