__._,_.___
(Click here for an enlarged view of the map, courtesy Jan S. Krogh)
THOSE of us who keep an eye out for anomalies in the world's maps have long held a fond regard for what might be called Greater Bengal. A crazed array of boundaries cuts Bangladesh out of the cloth of easternmost India, before slicing up the surrounding Himalayan area and India's north-east into most of a dozen jagged mini-states. But the crème de la crème, for a student of bizarre geography, is to be found floating along the northern edge of Bangladesh's border with India.
EVER since Bangladesh achieved its independence in 1971, struggles over territory and terrorism, rather than the exchange of goods and goodwill, have dominated its relations with its mega-neighbour. Forty years on, both countries appear to be nearing an agreement to solve the insoluble—by swapping territory.
The planned exchange of parcels of each other's territory is concentrated around some 200 enclaves. These are like islands of Indian and Bangladeshi territory surrounded completely by the other country's land, clustered on either side of Bangladesh's border with the district of Cooch Behar, in the Indian state of West Bengal. Surreally, these include about two dozen counter-enclaves (enclaves within enclaves), as well as the world's only counter-counter enclave—a patch of Bangladesh that is surrounded by Indian territory…itself surrounded by
Bangladeshi territory.
Folklore has it that this quiltwork of enclaves is the result of a series of chess games between the Maharaja of Cooch Behar and the Faujdar of Rangpur. The noblemen wagered on their games, using villages as currency. Even in the more sober account, represented by Brendan R. Whyte, an academic, the enclaves are the "result of peace treaties in 1711 and 1713 between the kingdom of Cooch Behar and the Mughal empire, ending a long series of wars in which the Mughals wrested several districts from Cooch Behar."
That was before the days of East India Company rule, before the British Raj and long before the independence of South Asia's modern republics. These places have been left as they were found by both India and Bangladesh: in a nearly stateless state of abandonment. They are today pockets of abject poverty with little or nothing in the way of public services.
In a 2004 paper titled "An historical and documentary study of the Cooch Behar enclaves of India and Bangladesh", Mr Whyte, in reference to the intractability of the boundary issues at partition, asks whether India is still "waiting for the Eskimo".
When in 1947 Mr Feroz Khan Noon suggested that Sir Cyril Radcliffe should not visit Lahore for he was sure to be misunderstood either by the Muslims or the Sikhs, The Statesman wrote: "On this line of argument, he [Sir Cyril] would do better to remain in London, or better still, take up residence in Alaska. Perhaps however there would be no objection to his surveying the boundaries of the Punjab from the air if piloted by an Esqimo".
Apparently the newspaper thought that anyone's sorting this border dispute anytime soon was highly improbable. Sir Cyril's success seemed as implausible—in those waning days of the British empire—as the notion of an Inuit flying an aeroplane. Most of a century later and a flying "Esqimo" seems like no big deal, while progress on the zany borders of Cooch Behar has made no progress at all.
There is now talk that a land swap might be sealed when India's prime minister Manmohan Singh visits Bangladesh later this year. If it goes ahead, India stands to lose just over 4,000 hectares of its territory, or about 40 square kilometres. It has 111 enclaves of land within Bangladesh—nearly 70 square kilometres. Bangladesh has 51 enclaves of its own, comprising 28 square kilometres surrounded by India. The transfer proposed would simplify the messy boundary immeasurably—and entail something like a 10,000-acre net loss for India.
For India's governing Congress party, making a gift of land to Bangladesh—in all an area equivalent to the size of 2,000 test-cricket stadiums—will not come easy. During a time of ideological waffle, it is an issue which India's opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) can use to flaunt its nationalistic (oftentimes pro-Hindu, ie anti-Muslim) credentials and to attack Congress at a weak spot—its perceived softness towards illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, most of them Muslims. By many estimates, more than 15m illegal migrants have entered India from Bangladesh since 1971. The BJP has been trotting out the round figure of 20m for years.
Meanwhile, construction of a border fence, 2.5m high, on India's 4,100km border with Bangladesh, the world's fifth-longest (due to all its zigging and zagging), continues unabated. It is a bloody border, too. Indian soldiers enforce a shoot-to-kill order against Bangladeshi migrants caught making their mundane way from one side of the line to the other.
But what's in it for India? Its broader desire to clarify its fuzzy borders with all its neighbours provides one attraction. The dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir has eluded resolution. China's claim of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh remains an open sore. Drawing one steady borderline in the east looks comparatively easy.
India must also hope that its generous co-operation in the territorial dispute might help Bangladesh's prime minister, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, secure popular Bangladeshi support for a rapprochement with India. Her Awami League (AL) government has proven itself a willing partner: working to deny Bangladeshi territory to the insurgent groups who challenge Indian sovereignty in its north-eastern states; and cracking down Bangladesh's homegrown Islamic-extremist fringe. But as many of Sheikh Hasina's fellow citizens see things, India has yet to reciprocate following their government's consent last year to allow India to use Bangladesh's ports and roads. The main opposition party, the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), whose leader likes to say that no foreign vehicles should be allowed to use Bangladesh's territory, scents blood.
Indian diplomats know this. A diplomatic cable from the American embassy, leaked to the world by WikiLeaks, summarises discussions held in 2009 between India's then High Commissioner to Bangladesh and the American ambassador. India, the Americans thought, would like to establish a bilateral agreement with Bangladesh on counterterrorism, but was impeded by its understanding "that Bangladesh might insist on a regional task force to provide Hasina political cover from allegations she was too close to India".
Such international intriguing tends to ignore the people who actually in the enclaves—150,000 by some estimates—who are left waiting. Their chief grievance is a complete lack of public services: with no education, infrastructure for water, electricity etc, they may as well not be citizens of any country. NGOs are barred from working in the enclaves. The question of their citizenship is a major obstacle in resolving the problem: referendums are out of the question, as India does not want to create a precedent which could inspire Kashmiris or north-easterners fighting for independent statehood.
The people who actually live in enclaves (and counter-enclaves) in a certain sense "don't see" the borders. They speak the same language, eat the same food and live life without regard to the politicians in Dhaka, Kolkata and Delhi. Many of them cross the border regularly (the bribe is US$6 a trip from the Bangladeshi side).
A few years ago, away from Cooch Behar, on the eastern border with India, I met a man who lived smack on the border between Tripura state and Bangladesh. His living room was in Bangladesh, his toilet in India. He had been a local politician in India, and was now working as a farmer in Bangladesh. As is typical in such places, he sent his daughters to school in Bangladesh, and his sons to India, where schools, he thought, were much better. To his mind, the fence dividing the two countries was of little value. But, he conceded, "at least my cows don't run away anymore."
http://www.economist.com/blogs/asiaview/2011/02/enclaves_between_india_and_bangladesh
A week after Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, was forced to stand down, dozens of Libyans were reported killed by Muammar Gaddafi's security forces. Meanwhile, Bahraini troops shot dead at least one protester and wounded 50 others after mourners buried four people who were killed on Thursday in the worst mass unrest the western-backed Gulf state has ever seen.
"We don't care if they kill 5,000 of us," a protester screamed inside Salmaniya hospital, which has become a staging point for Bahrain's raging youth. "The regime must fall and we will make sure it does."Last night footage was posted on YouTube apparently showing Bahraini security forces shooting protesters.
Western nations have been struggling to adjust their policies in response to the security crackdowns in Arab countries.But Britain announced that it was revoking 44 licences for the export of arms to Bahrain amid concern over the violent suppression of protests in the Gulf state. The Foreign Office also said that eight arms export licences to Libya had been withdrawn, while a review of arms exports to the wider region continues.
Bahrain's crown prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa went on television to promise a national dialogue once calm has returned. But the country's most senior Shia cleric, Sheikh Issa Qassem, condemned attacks on protesters as a "massacre" and said the government had shut the door to such dialogue.
While the unrest in Bahrain was broadcast instantly around the world, the unprecedented bloodshed in the remote towns of eastern Libya was far harder for global media to cover.
Amid an official news blackout in Libya, there were opposition claims of 60 dead as diplomats reported the use of heavy weapons in Benghazi, the country's second city, and "a rapidly deteriorating situation" in the latest – and the most repressive – Arab country to be hit by serious unrest.
Libyans said a "massacre" had been perpetrated in Benghazi, al-Bayda and elsewhere in the region. Crowds in the port city of Tobruk were shown destroying a statue of Gaddafi's Green Book and chanting, "We want the regime to fall," echoing the slogan of the uprising in Egypt.
Umm Muhammad, a political activist in Benghazi, told the Guardian that 38 people had died in the city. "They [security forces] were using live fire here, not just teargas. This is a bloody massacre – in Benghazi, in al-Bayda, all over Libya. They are releasing prisoners from the jails to attack the demonstrators." Benghazi's al-Jala hospital was appealing for emergency blood supplies to help treat the injured.
News and rumours spread rapidly via social media websites including Twitter and Facebook, but information remained fragmentary and difficult to confirm.
In Yemen at least five people were reported killed when security forces and anti-government protesters clashed for a seventh consecutive day in the capital, Sana'a, Aden and other cities, with crowds demanding an end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 32-year rule.
Barack Obama said he was "deeply concerned" about the reports of violence from Bahrain, a close ally and the base of the US fifth fleet, as well as those from Libya and Yemen, and he urged their rulers to show restraint with protesters.
Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, also condemned the killings of protesters in Algeria, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Libya and Yemen. "The Middle East and North Africa region is boiling with anger," he said. "At the root of this anger is decades of neglect of people's aspirations to realise not only civil and political rights, but also economic, social and cultural rights."
In Cairo's Tahrir Square, the influential Egyptian cleric Sheikh Yusef al-Qaradawi said the Arab world had changed and said Egypt's new military leaders should listen to their people "to liberate us from the government that Mubarak formed".It has also emerged that the Ministry of Defence has helped train more than 100 Bahraini army officers in the past five years at Sandhurst and other top UK colleges.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/18/bahrain-libya-yemen-protests-violence
"Transshipment begins from March 1"
– Abdul Matlub Ahmad
Before Nano we are going to assemble Tata-ACE-HT over here. It is a small pickup and we will not just assemble it here. We will manufacture it too. The process is on and once that project is a success, we will go on to bring in the Nano. We have proposed to assemble Nano over here. Hopefully Tata will give us the thumbs-up within three months, but it will take another year or so before we can actually go into production. We have a plant in Jessore and our next project will be in Kishoreganj.
What is your production target?
We plan to manufacture 25 thousand pickups and 25 thousand Nanos a year.
Middle class consumers will rush for the Nano because of its affordability. Won't that congest Dhaka's streets further?
If cars are responsible for the traffic jams, so is our traffic system and the road networks. Nothing will come to a stop. Vehicles are increasing, the demand for vehicles is increasing too along with the population. The government's investment in the sector is also increasing. Roads and flyovers are being constructed. There are traffic jams in all countries over the world. In other countries the jams are mainly during the peak hours. Here the jams are almost round the clock.
The government's initiatives to resolve the traffic congestion in the city are all failing. Do you have any suggestions on how to tackle this problem?
The traffic system flows like a river and can change over the years. There can be no single solution to the traffic problem. Footpaths have to be increased and roads have to be increased. The rule of law must be enforced. Nowhere in the world do they park cars on the roadsides. Here cars are parked all over the place at random. Shops are erected on the roads, bazaars are made on the roads, So we need an adequate number of footpaths, highways, flyovers, over-bridges and, above all, enforcement of the law. Taxes have to be paid if one goes to the city centre. Large buses must be introduced to reduce the number of vehicles. Instead of a single solution, we have to go for a a multi-faceted solution.
What is your view on the initiatives taken by the present government?
We sometimes have discussions with the government. I feel the government's initiatives are all short-term, but the traffic solution cannot be short-term. There has to be a vision. One cannot expect to take iniative today and see the results tomorrow.
You are a leader of the India-Bangladesh Chamber. After the Prime Minister's visit to India and the agreements signed between the two countries, has there been any significant reduction in the trade gap? Have there been any positive results?
The political relationship between India and Bangladesh at present is very positive. In fact, this is the best time since 1974 so far, relations between the two countries are concerned. The agreements signed between the two countries, like for transit and transshipment, are very logical. There are no obstacles in the way now. India has lifted duty from many products. New products from Bangladesh are now entering the Indian market. In the meantime, over the past year India has invested 1000 crore taka in Bangladesh and more is in the pipeline. The investment environment between the two countries has improved vastly after the Prime Minister's visit. Relations between the businessmen of the two countries has improved too.
Won't transshipment mean that our exports to Indian's northeastern states will stop?
No, this won't stop. On the contrary, it will increase. Many companies of India's Ahmedabad and Punjab will set up industries in Bangladesh and they will supply goods to the Seven Sister states of India's northeastern region. They will basically be sending raw material to these states where industries will develop. These goods will be going over our territory to India and to other countries of the world. I do not feel that transshipment will mean a halt to our exports to India's northeast.
So when will transshipment take off? Our roadways are not ready as yet.
Work has begun on the route from Ashuganj to Agartala and it will be completed soon. Shipments will arrive here from March 1. Transshipment means their goods will be transported in our trucks. Our trucks are already plying that route so it won't be a problem. As far as I know, their goods for the power plant will start from Haldia for Ashuganj in the third week of March. The Indian NTPC company has been given the contract to transport the heavy equipment for the power plant to Agartala. Their Managing Director will visit Bangladesh prior to that.
In the past, political unrest was held responsible for inadequate foreign investment here. The political situation is more or less stable now so why hasn't there been adequate foreign investment over the past two years?
You are right that political stability is conducive for foreign investment. The first year of this government was spent in making up for the 1/11 and pre-1/11 government's performances. Over the past one year investments have increased considerably. Airtel alone has brought in 300 million dollars in investment. Countries other than India will come too. They are no longer worried about gas or electricity. Labour is still cheap in Bangladesh and there is a big local market. Investors are eyeing Bangladesh as a good destination.
Prices of essentials continue in an upward spiral and the government blames this on the international market. Do you agree or do you see any other factor responsible for this?
We don't have management problems. In the villages you will see the farmers have their own network to send their produce from the fields to the market or to Dhaka. The price of diesel, onions and sugar is steeper in India than here. Actually prices are affected by the rise of prices in the international market. We tend to think we are entitled to gas, water and power free, but that is so wrong. In India, electricity costs nine taka per unit for mills and factories, here it is just six taka. We have to accept that it will not be possible for electricity, water and roads to be cheap any more. We will have to pay toll on the roads, the government will no longer be able to subsidise. If you do a comparative study, you will find things are much cheaper here than elsewhere.
It is said that the government is unable to control the sector-wise business syndicates. What is your opinion?
A syndicate implies that the market is manipulated by three or four persons. There is market manipulation all over the world. Here such manipulation is much less because there is a lack of unity among the businessmen. If one person puts up is prices, the other reduces his. There are a lot of mass importers. The government should encourage small importers. It should also activate TCB and other such institutions.
http://www.probenewsmagazine.com/index.php?index=2&contentId=6818
By William Gomes
I am not a patriot. It was my answer to a prominent political personality of his questions. He asked me the Indian soldiers are killing innocent people in Indo Bangla Border, Bangladesh is failing to deal with the Indian soldiers.
He said the time will come when the every citizen of the country will be a soldier along with Bangladeshi soldiers will cross the border and fire on the Indian's and will take revenge of murder of each and every single murder Innocent Bangladeshi people by Border Security Force (BSF) and we will place the Bangladeshi flag in their land.
I opposed him and answered him what you are dreaming to do is fully unjust and that will be crime against the human life on the land named India. He said you seem an anti Bangladesh people. He asked me do you love Bangladesh. I answered him, I don't love Bangladesh. He sought at me you are not a patriot! I confirmed him "I am not a patriot".
This conversation with this high profile politician inspired me to write more on what I do think about the patriotism, nationalism and many more related facts. For me Patriotism is a source of class notion and an absolute source from which war flourishes. Nationalism is a source of Corporate hearted and it's a power factor to divide and rule in the hand of ruling class.
We talk about freedom of movement and think of freedom but with the idea of nation, nationalism we bind us border we divide us from others. We learn how to love our nation and to hate others. I asked the politician do you love your nation Bangladesh. He said yes I do! I asked him do you hate India, he said yes!
He was proud to say that he loves his nation Bangladesh and hates other nation India. I love the people of the geographical place named Bangladesh and I also love the people of geographical location named India and rest of the people of the world. I asked him why you love your nation. He answered me I born and brought up here; it's like a mother to me.
George Bernard Shaw was right that "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it". The politician was got the conviction about his nation because it is his own and that let him to fell his nation is superior to the others. This conviction is the result of nationalism and its patriotism.
Many of my critics named me that I am an agent of foreign intelligence. For me I dream no border, no nation, only people. Then the whole world will be native no one will be foreign all will be united while presently the United Nations is failing to unite us but fully successful to divide and rule us.
Ronald Reagan rightly said, "A nation without borders is not a nation." Yes! When there will be no borders that will not be a nation, there will be no nationalism, there will no patriot and patriotism. There will be no ruler who rules us. There the real revolution being against the ruling class and there the people will unite where the people will be truly the source of all power.
The experts are urging on Israel Palestine issues, they are fighting on two states or one state policy. Here is the problem that can not be solving with the way they are dealing. The experts are thinking of division, some of them are thinking of whether to divide on two or divide on one. But none of them are thinking on uniting them and uniting with them.
The same divide and rule policy going on in different parts of the world. Now it's a question to you reader whether you will divide yourself from others or unite yourself. Aesop is right "United we stand; divided we fall". Its time to stand, stand against division. And friends the people who are getting killed in different borders it's an out come of nationalism. Before judging the murderer please judges the force behind them who empowers them to do so. Bring the ruler under the law of people not of the nation. The law of people will be universal, it will effective in all parts of the universe.
A new law, new era and new world will begin when we will stand against the force of these patriots. The wall of division will fall down!
Short URL: http://www.williamgomes.org/?p=40
Bangladesh Association of Maryland, Inc. (BAM) ® In addition, there will be food stalls to provide varieties of delicious food for a nominal price. There will also be Sari stalls, jewelery stalls, CD/DVD stalls, etc.
6524 Ivy Terrace
Elkridge, Maryland 21075
410-796-0577 (home); 301-646-3475 (cell); 703-875-4054 (work)
BangaliBhai@hotmail.com