There is an old saying that you can change your wife whenever you want but you cannot change your neighbour.
Bangladesh is almost entirely surrounded by India through it’s 4100kms of shared border. In this regard, there is much debate, naturally, among our academicians as to whether India is our good neighbour or not.
History shows that India helped Bangladesh to achieve independence from West Pakistan in 1971 for which we remain grateful. Since independence though, relations between our two countries have experienced numerous problems. For example, disputes over enclaves, land boundaries, river water and maritime issues.
Indiscriminate border killings by the Indian BSF forces is a high profile issue. According to Human Rights Watch, India’s force has killed almost 1,000 Bangladeshis over the past 10 years. That implies a border killing every four days, in gross violation of human rights as well as international law.
It is pertinent to note here that the way the Bangladesh-India border was carved out in 1947 added to its complexity and increased the likelihood of border disputes. In some places, the border makes one part of a house or holding situated in Bangladesh and another in India. A substantial number of people have had to move between both countries without passports for various reasons.
This kind of cross-border movement facilitates informal trade or smuggling which is sometimes used by Indian authorities to justify these killings. Fears of illegal migration and drug smuggling are commonly cited but can this be acceptable justification?
As far as international law is concerned, it is clear border killings are gross violations of human rights as well as international laws.
In the Gercia case (Mexico v US 1926) where two Mexican children had been killed by a US border guard at night, it was observed that taking civilian life is in no way permissible and is illegal.
Whatever initiatives the Bangladeshi government has taken in response to these killings, have not only been ineffective, but also have sometimes sent the wrong message to the people of Bangladesh as well as the Indian government. For instance when an influential minister said: “we are not worried about it, it has happened in the past, is happening now and will happen in the future.”
One wonders why Bangladeshi people are only being killed on their side of the border, even though people are crossing both ways. Pakistan has much more hostile relations with India than Bangladesh. But we have not seen such BSF killings on their respective border side, even though people move across them and illegal border trade is taking place there.
It is worth mentioning here that border killings have been taking place consistently despite repeated assurances from the Indian authorities.
Now, it is the time for Bangladesh government to take the issue seriously and implement the following
measures to tackle this unpardonable act.
The Bangladesh government should send high profile diplomatic notes asking for investigation and explanation to the Indian High Commission each time there is an atrocity.
Strong and consistent protest from the Bangladesh side is essential. In this regard, print and electronic media can play a very positive role. Our politicians and policy makers should take individual responsibility for people being killed or injured and use the media to protest so that India gets the real message.
Bangladesh can seek judicial action and argue to the International Criminal Court by showing that systematic killing in the border area is a crime against humanity as it is a. We have to take this issue in the international forums so that world can understand what is actually happing here.
Of course, Bangladesh has to deal with the Indian government tactically and prudently. The best solution is that both countries come forward by showing respect human rights.
Cross-border informal trade is one of the most important issues between India and Bangladesh. It takes place between people who live a short distance apart, but who find themselves separated by an international boundary. They do not have any other option but to cross the border regularly . For the people of these border areas, cross-border trade, formal or informal, is often necessary because their areas are usually deprived.
One can only hope good sense will prevail and the Bangladesh government properly voices peoples “concerns” about the border situation. Both governments need to take this issue very seriously.
