Repeated BSF provocations ominous
THE sequence of events that eventually led to the exchange of fire between the Bangladesh Rifles and the Border Security Force of India on the Jaintapur frontier in Sylhet on Sunday, in which three Bangladeshi nationals were hit by BSF bullet, only underlines what could be termed the characteristic propensity of the Indian border guards to instigate flare-up on the border. As a report front-paged in New Age on Monday indicates, the BSF actions were provocative through and through.
According to the report, 30 to 40 Indian nationals crossed some 300 metres into the Bangladesh territory for fishing at a marshland while more than one hundred others, led by BSF personnel, stood guard on the zero line. When the on-duty BDR soldiers requested their BSF counterparts to take back the intruders, it led to an altercation, at one point of which the Indian border guards opened fire. Soon, the border guards were firing into the Shreepur Stone Quarry near the Shreepur border outpost, wounding three civilians, including a woman. The exchange of fire did end in the afternoon; however, the BSF refused to entertain a BDR request for a flag meeting.
The incident occurred in less than two weeks after the BSF had crossed about 50 metres into the Bangladesh territory and kidnapped a BDR soldier of the Jaintapur outpost at gunpoint on February 4. Although the BSF eventually handed over the BDR soldier, it now seems that the Indian border guards were only too keen to make sure that the border remained tense. So much for the Indian government's commitment, as articulated in the Dhaka-Delhi joint communiqué issued at the end of the Bangladesh prime minister's January 10-13 state visit to India. It is pertinent to recall that the BSF killed a Bangladeshi on January 12 a day before the communiqué was issued.
Insofar as the border trouble is concerned the communiqué was a travesty of truth, to say the least. The phrase 'both Prime Ministers agreed that the respective border guarding forces [should] exercise restraint' unduly brackets the BDR with the BSF in respect of atrocities on the frontier. The statistics would vouch for that. For example, in less than a year since the February 25-26 rebellion at the BDR headquarters, the BSF killed more than 50 Bangladeshis. Needless to say, there has not been any report of any Indian nationals killed by the BDR. Moreover, so rampant have been the BSF atrocities that the BDR, in a report submitted to the home ministry in January, even recommended a dawn-to-dusk ban on the movement of Bangladeshis within 150 yards of the zero point inside the Bangladesh territory, to save Bangladeshi nationals from getting killed by the Indian border guards.
Still, the Awami League-led government has seemingly chosen to keep faith in the assurances of its Indian counterparts, although such assurances often proved empty in the past and despite the continued BSF atrocities on the border. Indeed, Bangladesh needs to have cordial relations with India. Indeed, mutual trust is essential for healthy bilateral relations. However, in respect of its relations with Bangladesh, trust and goodwill gestures have been largely one-sided. Moreover, in view of the repeated BSF, many have started suspecting that India may be trying to drag Bangladesh into large-scale border skirmishes. Hence, the government would do well to look at the recent developments, and look hard; after all, it is always better to err on the side of caution.
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