As a neighboring country that shares 4,096-kilometre international border with Bangladesh demarcated over 8 of its main divisions, India has a unique history of friendship with Bangladesh that dates back to the liberation war of 1971 when India and its government had offered incredible support to Bangladesh by taking in 10 million refugees who crossed the borders of India, fleeing the wrath of the West Pakistanis. A glimpse of a similar scenario can be seen in the mass exodus in 2017, when Bangladesh opened its borders to the helpless Rohingyas fleeing Myanmar with whom it shares a border of 270 miles. In both the cases, the generosity offered by one nation to the other highlights the spirit of friendship and reliability across two neighbouring countries.

This sense of mutual understanding and co-operation that binds two nations often grinds to a halt over issues concerning the border. In case of India, a country with whom Bangladesh holds strong diplomatic ties and burgeoning trade deals, the current scenario of crime, killings, illegal immigration, human rights violation around the Indo-Bangla border paints a rather grim picture.

Indo-Bangla Border

The recent events surrounding the dispute between the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Border guard Bangladesh (BGB) regarding the issue of reconstruction of a mosque around the Indian border area of Sylhet sheds light on the reality of the India-Bangladesh friendship. Due to the precarious conditions of an old mosque, built around the British period inside the 1357 number pillar on the Bangladeshi side of Gajukata border of Biyanibazar, Sylhet, the villagers decided to rebuild a new mosque just beside the old one. However, as it falls under 150 yards beside the Indian border, a tension arose between the BSF and the BGB, prompting the BSF to build bunkers around the construction area. Although a mutual agreement had been issued between the two parties at the 43rd BGB-BSF conference upon which decisions had been made to rebuild the mosque in that area where local communities had already been living for decades. Despite the agreement, BSF’s attitude in obstructing the continuation of the construction is spreading fear amongst the villagers around the border, instigating the BGB to prepare for their own security. 

According to a report by the American Newspaper Foreign Policy,  Bangladesh-India border has been enlisted as one of the most dangerous borders in the world as a number of crimes plagues its border, the most despicable of which is border killing. According to Human Rights Watch, India’s border security forces have fatally shot nearly 1,000 Bangladeshis trying to cross the border since 2000.

In the recent years, these numbers have shot up manifold as the database from Ain O Salish Kendra claims that at least 49 Bangladeshi citizens have been killed along the India -Bangladesh border in 2020 and at least 15 people were killed in 2018 which rose to 43 in 2019. Although the case of 15-year-old Bangladeshi girl Felani Khatun who while crossing the Indian border was shot and later hung along the barbed fences of the Indian border by a BSF member had sparked controversy in the international media, the response from the Indian government to redress the matter fell short subsequently as it bore no significant changes in the issue of border killing.

Myanmar-Bangladesh Border

Whereas the bilateral relationship between Bangladesh and Myanmar had never been quite smooth, as neither of these countries have lived up to their diplomatic potential. To begin with, Myanmar being more geopolitically advantageous in comparison to Bangladesh, had more interest in forming diplomatic ties with China and India. Due to that, the scope for strengthening their ties never truly materialized.  Moreover, after the influx of Rohingya refugees in 2017 in Bangladesh, one-sided trade deals, illegal drug trafficking and movements of insurgents around the border had created a greater gap between the two countries.

The Rohingya crisis had further deteriorated the opportunity for trade and connectivity and has given rise to concerns of security around the border. The trade that relies on the waterways as the Naf river marks the borders of the two countries, has not been in favour of Bangladesh as the data points, in 21 years the trade deficit is about 3500 crore rupees.  

While items like fish, shrimp, wood, ginger, turmeric, etc. coming from Myanmar sells big in the border haats by Bangladeshis, there is no market for Bangladeshi products in Myanmar which had further declined after the communal riots of 2012. As per security concerns, human trafficking and illegal immigration also plagues the borders as Myanmar refuses to resolve the refugee crisis and fails to manage repartition for the Rohingyas.

What went wrong?

It is true that the prevalent cross border crimes like drug smuggling, human trafficking, terror activities, arms smuggling, cattle smuggling, exchange of fake currency are increasing day by day. But these crimes are issues of concern for the parties on the both sides of the border. Then what justifies the extra-judicial killings, the tortures and the ill-treatment from the BSF towards unarmed, innocent Bangladeshis?  

Crimes as such exist between the Myanmar-Bangladesh border as well as it is considered to be one of the important entry points for illegal drugs like “Yaba”. Yet despite the weak diplomatic ties between Bangladesh and Myanmar, there hasn’t been as many cases of unjustified killings by the soldiers in those borders. Moreover, the shoot-on-sight policy by the BSF that causes infringement of one’s basic human rights cannot be only option to stop these crimes.

The BSF had justified these killings as “unexpected deaths” and pinned in on crimes like cattle smuggling which has been one of the biggest crimes committed around the Indo-Bangla borders in the recent years. However, most of the people killed on those borders were petty cow traders. Surely, there were other ways of reprimanding these unarmed villagers? According to BBC Bangla, the West Bengal Police while inquiring into the matter, had found some of the members of BSF had been part of the cow smuggling operations and aided the smugglers by cutting parts of the barbed wires in some areas. In that case, if the problem lies with both sides of the border, why should the Bangladeshis lose their lives? The internal justice system also fails to implicate these culprits and the atrocities go on. So is the friendship with India just a rhetoric? Are we failing diplomatically? 

The way forward

Multiple conferences held in the last few years amongst the representatives of both India and Bangladesh have addressed the cross-border issues, where promises were made to promote zero tolerance for abuses across the border and to end the culture of impunity. Regular assurances were given by the Indian authority to curb the menace of these border crimes and the unlawful killings but the situation has remained visibly unchanged. What both these countries fail to realize is the negative impact that is has on the everyday citizens of both the countries as it spreads fear, uncertainty and frustration in their minds. It gives rise to distrust between the people of both the countries and threatens the friendship between the nations.

In that light, we have to heed more importance to the bilateral relations between the two countries and take effective measures to limit all kinds of activities inimical to the interests on one another. In order to do that, first of all we need to take joint measures to implement the Coordinated Border Management Plan in controlling illegal cross-border activities. Starting from using non-lethal weapons like rubber bullets by the border guards and creating opportunities for legal economic activities, we can simultaneously lower the rate of border crime along with putting an end to border killings.

 We can also arrange for border haats; “ready markets” that allow local communities around the borders to trade local agricultural and manufactured items. It will not only reduce informal trade and crime but also create a space for connectivity among the communities of the two sides of the border. Through regular interactions by business trades, the local communities will have the opportunity to improve their relationship and strengthen trust amongst one another.

 Despite the 50 years of friendship and a robust diplomatic relationship with India, their imperialistic attitude towards Bangladesh in regard of border related issues ultimately costs the fraternity between two nations. Therefore, in order to consolidate strong bilateral ties and to promote friendship we need to maintain peace around the borders through mutual co-operation.

Now if the border shared by Bangladesh with the autocratic Myanmar can remain so calm, why can’t we aspire for a calmer border when it comes to our democratic ally India?