Border fencing and corridor

							Bangladesh and India border demarcation aims at cross
border movement of Indian goods and services only
by MM ALI, ALTAF PARVEZ, SHAMSUDDOHA SHOAIB and K MAHMUD

Demarcation of boundary between Bangladesh and India will facilitate cross border
movement of Indian goods between main land of the country and its north eastern region
through Bangladesh. Gaining corridor through Bangladesh will allow India to save time
to reach its trouble torn north eastern region and facilitate cost effective business
between its two parts while for the people of Bangladesh it will lead to the completion of
the longest border fence in the world. Will people to people contact be established
between the two countries with fencing along land borders and rampant killings on
boundary line using primitive methods.

Boundary demarcation, exchange of enclaves and adversely possessed land besides
facilitation of Indian goods from main land of the country to its north eastern region
through Bangladesh will dominate the agenda of Dr. Mon Mohan Singh’s visit to Dhaka.

Indian Prime Minister Dr Singh starts his 30 hour visit to Bangladesh when he lands at
the Dhaka airport at 11:55 am (local time) Tuesday. Reports printed in newspapers and
broadcast through electronic media have generated a lot of expectation centring the visit
of Dr. Singh, who in his own country is probably faced with the biggest challenge over
domestic issues.

Only hours away from his visit to Bangladesh last moment changes hint hiccups in the
signing of a water treaty of a major river between the two countries and withdrawal of
maritime boundary issue from the agenda.

Whether the Bangladesh visit and its outcome help him gain some mileage internally
needs to be seen while the people of Bangladesh amidst hyped up media campaign are
probably kept away from the ground realities regarding which solutions are expected. In
this article we will concentrate only on the issue of fencing along Bangladesh-India
border, which is the longest in the world.

It is imperative for India to resolve the demarcation of the 6.5 km border with Bangladesh
to quick start the cross border movement of goods and services through the country.

Access through Bangladesh’s land and river routes are considered vitally important from
Indian business and strategic view points. The land corridor through the country will not
only allow transportation of Indian goods and services to the north eastern region but also
facilitate transportation of energy to the main land produced there with massive
investment in the north eastern region.
Completion of boundary demarcation between the two countries will facilitate India to
immediately fulfill its long cherished dream of encirclement of Bangladesh through the
land with barbed ware fencing.

The gesture of friendship underlying this barbed ware fencing talk in volumes about the
attitude of the Indians towards Bangladesh as well as its own elite mentality. How the
people in the country view this friendship and draw their conclusions regarding the cost
of friendship needs to be seen in the days to come.

In Assam, if you are wearing a lungi or a beard, people say you’re from Bangladesh

– TIME, February 05, 2009

The famous, or infamous, Berlin Wall used to be 140km. The wall which Israel has built
around Gaza is 760km. The wall along the US-Mexico border is 1123km. But the length
of the Indian barbed wire fencing along its border with Bangladesh is more than all these
walls combined.

The longest border fencing in the world

While Bangladesh and India share a 4096 border which delineates the two separate
countries, the people of the border regions are not always that separate. Particularly the
people of West Bengal and Assam, and those this side of the border adjacent to those
states, have relations or either side of the border, and in the past had thriving business
relations too. In fact, the border would even pass through the middle of some houses,
causing the international media to even term it as the world’s most “inhuman border”.

The logic put forward by the Indian politicians for constructing this fence is very much
on the same lines as the Israel justification of wall along Palestine. India is also
proceeding with the construction of a 1800km fence along its border with Pakistan.
However, the construction of the fence around Bangladesh is proceeding at a much faster
pace. This is now being acknowledged as the world’s longest border fence.

Concerned government, human rights activists and the affected countries are very vocal
in their protest against the border wall between Israel and Palestine and the fencing
between USA and Mexico. In Bangladesh, however, this issue is being totally
overlooked. Only on May 15, 2010, Abdus Sobhan Sikder, Home Secretary at the time,
said, “In constructing this barbed wire fencing, India has violated international laws in at
least 46 places [The Daily Star May 16, 2010].” The Home Secretary pointed out that
even in the joint survey with India, at least 12 points were identified where there was
violation of the international compulsions not to have any structures or construction
within 150 yards from the zero point of the border demarcation.

Symbol of racism
This project went into full operation from 1989. Initially 3.7 billion rupees was allocated
for this project, but this amount gradually increased and is likely to stand at 10.5 billion
rupees. Not only has Indian erected this barbed wire fence, but in places has also, along
the fence, constructed roads for movement of heavy military vehicles. So far about 3000
km of fencing has been completed. The fence is three metres high. Several other
structures are to be constructed alongside the fencing.

Using the Right to Information Act, on 30 December, 2009, local Indian citizens
obligated their government to reveal detailed information about the border fencing. It was
then revealed that till date a total of 5205.43 rupees had been spent and the decision had
been to raise 3436.59km of barbed wire border fencing. Later Indian sources revealed
that actually 3783km of fencing would be raised. According to a statement made by the
then Indian Home Secretary in the Lok Sabha, in the 2004-5 financial year, already a sum
of 2404.70 rupees has been spent on the fencing. In some places of Assam the barbed
wire fence has even been electrified.

When the US had decided to construct a wall/fencing along its border with Mexico, at
least two laws had been drawn up in two phases. Finally the Secure Fence Act 2006 was
adopted for the task. This came into effect from September 13, 2006. In the case of India,
no such law was adopted. It was simply by administrative decision that the plan to
surround Bangladesh was taken up for execution.

The justification made by the US for its border wall was that narcotics were being
smuggled in from Mexico. As for Israel, they reasoned that the wall along the West Bank
was a security measure against alleged Palestinian terrorist attacks. India faced neither
threat from Bangladesh. On the contrary, it is from India that Phensydyl and other
narcotic substances as well as arms and ammunition enter Bangladesh, posing as a
security threat to this side of the border. Despite all this, Bangladesh never demanded any
kind of anti-humanitarian sort of infrastructure. Interestingly, all the issues which India
has highlighted in justifying this border fencing, exist in the case of Nepal too, but it has
made no move for any such wall with Nepal.

Perhaps it is because of their diplomacy and failure to fall into the trap of ethnic hatred
that Bangladesh’s policymakers have maintained a strange silence about this fencing,
while standing fully in favour of handing over transit or corridor facilities to India. Yet
this construction of the fence and road around the border is even a violation of the Mujib-
Indira treaty signed in 1974. Even though this treaty expired in 1997, it is still considered
to be the guiding force behind Bangladesh- India relations.

According to the Mujib-Indira treaty, neither of the country could construct any
infrastructure that would be harmful to the other country. In constructing this border
fencing, India has completely moved away from the treaty. Along various parts of its
border, India is using ground sensor technology imported from Israel. In a recent issue of
the Kolkata daily Bartaman (June 5, 2011), Ashok Kumar, Acting DG of BSF’s Cooch
Bihar sector, is quoted to have said that they are using such sophisticated thermal imagers
that even in the night they can observe activities a few kilometers within Bangladesh.
Previously, on October 15, 2006, Zee News sources revealed that just for the Bangladesh
border alone, India had procured 900 hand-held imagers, each set costing 28 lac rupees.
The equipment uses its body heat to detect its object. Additionally, BSF has procured for
the border Israel-made LORROS (Long-Range Recce and Observation System) which
enables them to carry out intensive observation for 40 miles along the border. They have
procured at least 27 sets of such radar-based technology, each set costing two crore
rupees.

It is not in technology alone, but in its entire border management that India has forgotten
the spirit of the Mujib-Indira Treaty. The very first paragraph speaks of long-term peace
and friendship, peaceful co-existence, and not having any discriminatory attitudes
towards one another. But having a thousands of miles long barbed wire fence surrounding
Bangladesh hardly speaks of friendship. On the contrary to speaks of a sort of ethnic
hatred. The US has a similar attitude towards Mexico.

Methodical shift of killing Bangladeshis along border

The recent pledge by Indian authorities not use ‘bullet’ on innocent citizens has also
turned out to be a farce. It was generally presumed that the chapter of killing by the BSF
would come to an end as the regime in power has already fulfilled the free land corridor
route to India. The fact remains that people are still being killed in the borders not by
‘bullets’ as pledged but by using primitive methods like stoning to death and beaten to
death.

Threat to biodiversity

All the elements for which the human rights activists of the world opposed the Israel-
Palestine and the US-Mexico border walls/fencing, exist in the case of India and
Bangladesh too. The ethnic groups living along the US-Mexican border are being cut off
from each other’s kith and kin because of the border wall. The fencing between
Bangladesh and India has similar broken up thousands of families. Since time
immemorial people on either side of the border have become related to each other
through marriage. They could never imagine a wall separating people of the same
language and ethnicity. These families are now split. This has also hit them hard
economically.

This longest border fencing in the world is also going to divide the world largest
mangrove forest, the Sundarbans. This has created concern among environmentalists at
an international level. Roads and other infrastructure will have to be constructed in the
Sundarbans too for them to set up this wire fencing. The wire fencing and the roads will
certainly harm Sundarbans’ biodiversity. Tigers and other animals on the verge of
extinction will lose their natural habitat. Biodiversity will vanish in no time if the fencing
is electrified.

A military mindset
Needless to say, the source of such a short-sighted anti-humanitarian project is the
military and bureaucratic mindset. It is noted that the three countries constructing these
controversial border divides have strong military mindsets and also share links of
cooperation among each other. Most of the agreements of cooperation among these
countries are of the military ilk. The right wing media aids and assists in placing public
opinion in the military mould. It is the smaller neighbours like Bangladesh who have to
bear the brunt of such attitudes. And yet for the “security” which India is apparently
seeking through its barbed wire fencing, the best alternative would be for it to grow
strong ties of friendship and trust with Bangladesh.