Govt needs to reconstitute BDR on its own New Age Editorial  IT IS a source of growing alarm that senior members of the ruling Awami League alliance, including some influential ministers, are repeatedly indicating that governments in neighbouring countries will be asked to play a role in the reconstitution of the Bangladesh Rifles, after the decision to disband the border guards in the wake of the Pilkhana Massacre. The latest statement to this effect came from the State Minister for Home Affairs Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj on Tuesday after the BDR chief met with home minister Sahara Khatun, as reported in Wednesday's New Age. According to Tanjim, the government will likely seek help from neighbouring countries for the training and modernisation of the new force. We are alarmed by these plans for a number of reasons, the principal having to do with the strategic implications of our national borders with both Myanmar and India being guarded by a force that feels even fractionally beholden to these foreign governments for either their equipment or their training. Surely the implications of this move, even in a token form, cannot be lost on the present regime's senior leaders. Tasked with the immense responsibility of preserving a country's territorial integrity, border guards play one of the key roles in the functioning of a nation state, though that role is often invisible, in the form of deterrence. If good fences make good neighbours, undermining the standing of the soon-to-be reconstituted border security agency by seeing them trained or outfitted by governments that share geographical borders with the country is not only counter productive in terms of martial strategy but potentially dangerous. While the government has expressed its desire to involve New Delhi and Naypyidaw in the BDR reconstitution, the US has offered to lend a hand in the effort as well. Ironically, these are also the three countries whose geo-strategic interests may potentially require them to violate Bangladesh's territorial integrity. It is pertinent to mention here that both Naypyidaw and New Delhi not only authorised oil and gas exploration vessels to violate Bangladesh's territorial boundaries to conduct surveys, but refused to withdraw from our territorial waters despite repeated protests from Dhaka last year. It does not speak well of neighbourly relations that both these violations took place at a time when Bangladesh was at its weakest political juncture, governed by a military-backed interim government. The present regime cannot ignore the fact that every year, scores of Bangladeshi civilians are shot and killed by the Indian Border Security Forces – a reality that has received repeated focus but has persisted nonetheless. These facts themselves are enough to indicate that border relations between Bangladesh and its two neighbours in question have been troubled at the best of times. The Awami League-led alliance government cannot afford to ignore these stark realities. Last but not least, we must remind the government that its plan to reconstitute the BDR with the help of neighbouring governments is offensive to the national sentiment of independence and sovereignty. We cannot overstate the importance of constructive neighbourly relations across South Asia for regional progress and security, but the government must ultimately retain full control of some key arms of the state – without exception. |
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