[ALOCHONA] Management of Bangladesh�India Border

Management of Bangladesh�India Border

M. Afsarul Qader

INTRODUCTION

A border is something that indicates a limit where one's responsibility ends and another's begin. The term "boundary" is used in similar sense inasmuch as it is

one of the most significant manifestations of state

1 territorial sovereignty. It

delimits physical space and has proven to be quite a daunting task that can

bedevil state relationship. But not so always if both sides understand each other

better and are amenable to rational choices.

In the Eurocentric global model of modernity from which no culture in the world

has remained untouched and which the Third World leaders have adopted,

national borders left by their colonial rulers continue to provide them with

challenges that so far many have been unable to resolve satisfactorily specially

with their value system as tools. But this should not necessarily be the case.

Borders could be sources of conflict as well as peace and prosperity depending on

how the issues are tackled. This paper would look into the options that the two

neighboring states Bangladesh and India can adopt in order to overcome the

impediments that have alternately soured or given boost to their relationship

from time to time taking necessary cue from the Eurocentric practices.

1

Article 1 of the Montevideo Convention of 1933 on the Rights and Duties of States enumerates the following

characteristics of a state:

"The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications:

� (a) a permanent

population; (b) a defined territory; (c) a Government ; and (d) a capacity to enter into relations with other States."

The qualification (d) is the most important. A state must have recognized capacity to maintain external relations

with other States. This distinguishes states proper from lesser units such as members of a federation, or

protectorates, which do not manage their foreign affairs, and are not recognized by other states as full

�fledged

members of the international community. The state is by no means necessarily identical with a particular race or

nation, although such identity may exist. See Starke's

International Law (Eleventh ed. 1994), pp 85�86; see also pp

172

�173 for case laws on resolution of boundary problems.

Prime Minister Sk.Hasina's Proposed Visit to India and the Expectations

Prime Minister Sk. Hasina's planned visit to India from 11

th January 2010 onward

has raised tremendous positive expectations among the peoples of the two

countries, media and policy makers for practical reasons. During her first term as

Prime Minister of Bangladesh together with Indian Congress leaders like Mr. I.

Gujral and regional leaders like Mr.Deve Gowda she was able to resolve some of

the intractable issues like that of long term sharing of Ganges Water and the

resolution of Chittagong Hill Tracts insurgency. Similar concrete achievements, if

not more, are now being expected by the peoples of the two countries as both

the Prime Ministers of India and Bangladesh came to power in recent past with

comfortable majority and do have positive track records of taking the bulls by the

horn. The title of the today's roundtable discussion, namely "Bangladesh

�India

Relations: Exploring New Horizons" does symbolize that upbeat expectation

amongst all of us. Given the inter

�state post 1947 political culture in South Asia of

keeping resolution of territorial issues pending, such expectations seem to be

reflection of too much of the sunny side on the part of Bangladeshi psyche.

Meanwhile, the solemn declaration and its repeated affirmation of Sk. Hasina that

Bangladesh's soil would not be allowed to be used by terrorists for attacking India

followed by concrete action which lead to ULFA leaders surrender to Indian

security apparatus have taken care of a serious security concern of Indian rulers

and people on its eastern front. This has generated a huge surge of goodwill in

the vocal Indian media whose Bangladesh

�critical columnists have not failed to

note these unprecedented acts of friendship and tremendous risk to the person

of Sk. Hasina and Bangladesh from the revenge seeking insurgent organizations of

North east India. But again to many Bangladeshis who got frustrated from little or

no implementation of many settled agreements by India despite expression of

concrete and repeated measures of goodwill shown by Bangladesh like handing

over of Berubari enclave, lowering of tariff to Indian products entering

Bangladesh under SAPTA passed without any reciprocal gestures, this unilateral

daring act of strategic risk taking appears to be one more act of friendship gesture

going to waste. Consequently, any mismatch in give and take from the two sides

during her ensuing visit to India is going to have tremendous impact on the

Bangladesh Prime Minister's political capital and goodwill among her people.

Bangladesh

�India Border Issues

Bangladesh shares with India a land boundary of 4,096 Kilometers of which 6.5

kilometers including some riverine parts in Comilla

�Tripura area remain undemarcated.

Despite the Mujib

�Indira Agreement of 1974 resolving the boundary

and enclave issues almost 36 years ago, 51 enclaves measuring 7,083.72 acres are

in adverse possession of India forcing their Bangladeshi residents to live in

abysmal conditions. Some acres of land in the district of Sylhet too is reportedly

have been occupied by the Indian Border Forces since independence. Besides,

continued killing of over a thousand unarmed Bangladeshis by Indian BSF since

1990 is a negation of the most elementary norms of inter

�state behavior unheard

of in modern inter

�state relations between two supposedly friendly countries

having normal political, commercial and cultural relations. It is as if life of

individuals and repeated promises not to snuff that out on the slightest pretext is

of no consequences in a region which has given birth to two major religions of the

world.

On the maritime side the boundary too remains un

�demarcated together with the

issue of the ownership of the South Talpatty/New Moore Island now forcibly

occupied by India despite Bangladesh's protest. On the other hand new measures

like drawing of a new unusual maritime base line, etc. keep on emerging side

lining recourse to meaningful negotiation and stead putting more pressure on

Bangladesh's legitimate interests and positions.

The list seems quite lengthy as old issues remain unresolved while new ones are

being added with the passage of time and ever increasing state of politicoeconomic

activities and relations.

So what can be done to redress the situation, bring a measure of respectful

behavior and establish good neighborliness that seems to be the stated aim of

both the countries? Will these problems and others which will come up in other

presentations by concerned and knowledgeable persons in this session could be

positively influenced or resolved through the exercise of unilateral goodwill

measures at leadership level on bilateral plane? Or why some of these issues have

not been suitably addressed in sub

�regional or regional forums which we did set

up with high hopes and the kind of which other countries are so successfully

using? Could we once again look into some Eurocentric practices to overcome our

own generic problems?

What is Border Security and Management

In the light of the complexities of issues and stakes involved given the high level of

expectation which may not pass as pragmatic in the light of South Asia's

dominant neighborly culture we need to take a look into the border security and

management issues between the two countries from the perspective of the best

practices of the European countries which gave the present world the very

concept of statehood and its social derivatives like democracy and conflict

resolution mechanisms, confidence

�building lessons at the inter�state level.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) which has 56

members including some from the Central Asian and Caucasus regions recognizes

that border security and management is a matter of the national sovereignty and

responsibility of States. While promoting open and secure borders in a free,

democratic and more integrated manner they commit themselves to upheld the

principles of international law, in particular, international human rights, refugee

and humanitarian law as well standards and recommendations laid down by the

relevant international organizations. They reaffirm the norms, principles,

commitments and values enshrined in the Helsinki Final Act, all of which apply

equally and unreservedly and other similar instruments developed to date to

address the threats of terrorism, organized crime, illegal migration, and the illicit

trafficking in weapons, drugs and human beings

At the regional and sub

�regional levels: In the same spirit, the participating States

reaffirm their obligations and commitments in all regional and sub

�regional

formats in which they are members and undertake to promote their co

�operation

in all relevant organizations and agencies in order to ensure consistency in

policies and standards and to avoid duplication of efforts;

Bilaterally: In a spirit of solidarity, and aiming at good neighborly relations, the

participating States respect their bilateral agreements on border

�related issues

and undertake efforts to promote sharing of experience and good practices.

Main objectives of co

�operation

Co

�operation by the participating States is aimed at promoting the

implementation of border

�related commitments; foster compliance with borderrelated

security and management standards recognized by the participating

States, as well as their improvement,

inter alia, based on sharing of good

practices.

2. The participating States promote co

�operation between their border services,

customs authorities, agencies issuing travel documents and visas, and law

enforcement and migration agencies, as well as other competent national

structures, with a view to achieving the following aims:

2.1 To promote free and secure movement of persons, goods, services and

investments across borders, in conformity with relevant legal frameworks,

international law and OSCE commitments,

inter alia, through enhancing the

security of travel documents and encouraging, as appropriate, circumstances

that could allow liberalization of visa regimes, in the spirit of the commitments

under the documents mentioned above;

2.2 To reduce the threat of terrorism, including by preventing cross

�border

movement of persons, weapons and funds connected with terrorist and other

criminal activities;

2.3 To prevent and repress transnational organized crime, illegal migration,

corruption, smuggling and trafficking in weapons, drugs and human beings;

2.4 To promote high standards in border services and competent national

structures;

2.5 To promote dignified treatment of all individuals wanting to cross borders,

in conformity with relevant national legal frameworks, international law,

inparticular human rights, refugee, and humanitarian law, and relevant OSCE

commitments;

2.6 To create beneficial conditions for social and economic development in

border territories, as well as for the prosperity and cultural development of

persons belonging to all communities residing in border areas, with access to all

opportunities;

2.7 To foster prospects for joint economic development and help in establishing

common spaces of freedom, security and justice in the OSCE area;

2.8 To ensure the security of the international transport circuit for supply of

commodities.

Guided by the OSCE co

�operative approach, they believe that:

3. That their common prosperity and security can be enhanced through an

increase in beneficial cross

�border movements of people, goods, services and

investments.

4. Issues of a regulatory nature raised by cross

�border movements can best be

addressed through direct co

�operation between the border services and

competent national structures of the participating States, based on relevant

agreements. This co

�operation should take place at the bilateral, regional and

multilateral levels.

5. Sovereign national authorities, and in particular the border services responsible

on each side of the border, have the best knowledge of the issues at hand. Crossborder

dialogue, transparency and confidence

�building constitute the first logical

steps towards generating solutions with added value to the benefit of all.

6. Since every border has a particular character and may call for specific policy

choices, each participating State has the sovereign right to choose how to secure

and manage its borders, taking into account relevant political, military, economic

and social considerations.

In sum, the concept is to treat the matter of security as common, cooperative and

indivisible basis and to base their work on security and border management on

the basis of pragmatism and realism while a spirit of solidarity and partnership

based on mutual interest and respect sustains that. Periodic review and

monitoring of activities are undertaken to learn from the many diverse

circumstances.

Conflict resolution is effected through peaceful dialogue while the OSCE Court of

Conciliation and Arbitration is the tool available to States recognizing its

jurisdiction, for consultation and to provide confidential legal opinion

Besides there are methods and arrangements for training, capacity building and

initiating confidence

�building measures of participating states. 2

CONCLUSION

It looks like the European practitioners of geo

�politics who gave us the concepts

of nationalism and colonialism also came up with Eurocentric solutions which are

available to the Oriental practitioners of the same art provided they are also

willing to follow those prescriptions in good faith and belief that pacts are to be

respected. However, selective application of those political constructs by some of

us would not lead to any sustainable solution as the problems would keep on

accumulating leading to a volatile situation that cannot be the desired goal for

regional and global peace and security.

In the context of the resolution of our mutual border problems, if decisive steps

taken by SK. Mujib on Berubari transfer and that of SK. Hasina on tackling crossborder

terrorism are expected to be forthcoming. And that the likely emerging

solutions would be further consolidated through creation of effective cooperative

institutions with provisions for compulsory judicial determination to take care of

uncertainities and/or bottlenecks that might appear down the lane. When

problems are resolved and peace prevails, sovereignty consolidates and

cooperation and economic prosperity move ahead while modernism spreads its

benefits to the masses. Like the positive impact of the

Rann of Kutch Arbitration,

2

For details see OSCE doc. No. MC. DOC/2/05 dated 6th December 2005 and OSCE Handbook, 2007.

let the future arbitration of our common maritime boundary pave way for

peaceful resolutions of intractable issues between Bangladesh and India. Joint

development of some of the border areas and resources may establish the base

for many more peaceful solutions to all the conflicting situations that may rear

their ugly heads from time to time in our mutual relationship. Let sanity and

statesmanship prevail!

Let leaders and statesmen of the ilk of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Mr. Morarji Desai, Mr.

Gujral, Mr. Deve Gowda, Mr. Jyoti Basu, Bangabandhu Sk. Mujibur Rahman and

his daughter Sk. Hasina shine on the horizons of the South Asian politics and

beyond for the sustenance of regional and global peace and security that the

humanity here and everywhere so intensely crave for!

http://www.biiss.org/aqader.pdf

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[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
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