Good borders make good neighbours

It is as if we, in Bangladesh, have become accustomed to the deaths in our border with India. Without any strong reaction from Bangladesh, one after another Bangladeshi national is being killed or tortured by the BSF personnel. There is no sign of abetment. The underage children are also not being spared. During the last few weeks several Bangladeshis were killed. According to Bangladesh’s home ministry, BSF killed 109 Bangladeshi civilians in the border between January 2012 and April 2016.
India’s border personnel even tied with ropes and picked three tender boys, none of them above 10 years, from Feni’s Fulghazi border (in the picture). They were, however, returned later. Amid these circumstances, the newly elected BJP Chief Minister of Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal, declared that India would seal the border with Bangladesh within two years. There might be pride in the minister’s words, but the fact is if India erects fences for itself, it will make them for Bangladesh too. Bangladesh then will not have to spend a farthing for it. Therefore this threat is not only immaterial, it is in a sense welcome also—Bangladesh can say in reaction to the chief minister.   
But this line of argument will make relations cold between the two countries and the fence will not be a good neighbourly fence. In fact, creating good fence is more a matter of mind than a physical one and it is very vital to work for achieving it so that even if there are fences—they are there already—bonhomie in the border can actually bring the two countries closer.   
For a long time the problem of killing in the frontiers is persisting, with India maintaining an attitude that lives of Bangladeshis can easily be spared even when it knows for sure that it could save these lives by merely taking a different approach to handle the alleged border infiltration.
Indian government as well as Indian people (as has been suggested by an opinion poll) think that in the region Bangladesh is its best friend. It is good to hear about this from Bangladesh, but because of the trigger-happy killing of Bangladeshi nationals in the border, Bangladeshi people are suffering a deep wound in the heart. Whatever anti-Indian sentiment people in Bangladesh now have, the rampant killing in the border has no less responsible for this. India needs to understand that if it wants to get Bangladesh beside it and win the heart of its people, it will have to stop killing in the border.
Often described as the bloodiest one in the world, Bangladesh-India border often gets far and wide coverage in the media around the world. The friendly relations between these two countries would have been still warmer if the Indian side could positively bring down the number of deaths to zero in the border.
In fact, Bangladesh received repeated commitments from the top level of India that they would see into the matter, but the ground reality has remained as unchanged. The spate of border killings reminds us how fatal the BSF men could be towards the fellow human beings of a neighbouring nation without any rhyme and reason. That is why many think whether BSF personnel have pathological hatred for Bangladeshi civilians.
The BSF killed Bangladeshis like birds --- remember the body of Felani Khatun that hung from the barbed wire --- or beat inhumanly Bangladeshi cattle traders making them naked as the NDTV video footage demonstrated several years ago. There is no denying the fact there are border aberrations. But killing the aberrant persons, either by BSF or Indian citizens, is not the right way to deal with this crime.
The norm is when an incident of illegal trespass happens, the security guards of the relevant country arrest the aberrant person, hold meeting with the counterparts, and as per law the person is awarded punishment when necessary, satisfactory to both sides. In the US-Mexico border, for example, Mexican trespassers are returned by the US side invariably. If BSF can spot a Bangladeshi to shoot, we do not believe that they cannot arrest him also. A human life is always valuable. But what are being done on along the border by the BSF clearly negates a person’s right to justice.
Bangladesh and India border is certainly not a war front. In fact, these two nations have been professing friendship right from the creation of Bangladesh in 1971 and in the recent years, the friendship has been said to have reached a certain height. Is this friendship only a matter of show and there is no sincerity in it?
India has always recognised the genuineness of grievances of Bangladesh arising from the border. Now the time is for them to deliver as per the commitment. For Bangladesh, making aware its people along the border is more important because it is they, after all, become victims. The relevant district administrations along the border can very well educate the citizens in this line.
In the discussion of border relations in Bangladesh, often India’s attitude to Pakistan is mentioned that India dares not kill a Pakistani because Pakistan inevitably will kill an Indian in retaliation to that offense. But Bangladesh’s relations with India are not that of Pakistan’s relations with India. They are said to have been based on friendship while relations between India and Pakistan since the partition in 1947 is largely antagonistic. Moreover, Bangladesh is a weak country.
For the perpetration of mass murder, torture and rape during 1971 for which Pakistan has not apologised fromally to Bangladesh yet, its relation to Pakistan is not growing to the desired level. Though Bangladesh once was part of Pakistan, it is not a neighbour of Bangladesh, but India is. One of the famous 10 Commandments of prophet Moses - ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself’ - is a truism, not just a moral instruction. India and Bangladesh can make their border relations warm in the light of this shining wisdom.  

 The writer can be contacted at: [email protected]

 

Good borders make good neighbours

It is as if we, in Bangladesh, have become accustomed to the deaths in our border with India. Without any strong reaction from Bangladesh, one after another Bangladeshi national is being killed or tortured by the BSF personnel. There is no sign of abetment. The underage children are also not being spared. During the last few weeks several Bangladeshis were killed. According to Bangladeshs home ministry, BSF killed 109 Bangladeshi civilians in the border between January 2012 and April 2016. Indias border personnel even tied with ropes and picked three tender boys, none of them above 10 years, from Fenis Fulghazi border (in the picture). They were, however, returned later. Amid these circumstances, the newly elected BJP Chief Minister of Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal, declared that India would seal the border with Bangladesh within two years. There might be pride in the ministers words, but the fact is if India erects fences for itself, it will make them for Bangladesh too. Bangladesh then will not have to spend a farthing for it. Therefore this threat is not only immaterial, it is in a sense welcome alsoBangladesh can say in reaction to the chief minister. But this line of argument will make relations cold between the two countries and the fence will not be a good neighbourly fence. In fact, creating good fence is more a matter of mind than a physical one and it is very vital to work for achieving it so that even if there are fencesthey are there alreadybonhomie in the border can actually bring the two countries closer. For a long time the problem of killing in the frontiers is persisting, with India maintaining an attitude that lives of Bangladeshis can easily be spared even when it knows for sure that it could save these lives by merely taking a different approach to handle the alleged border infiltration. Indian government as well as Indian people (as has been suggested by an opinion poll) think that in the region Bangladesh is its best friend. It is good to hear about this from Bangladesh, but because of the trigger-happy killing of Bangladeshi nationals in the border, Bangladeshi people are suffering a deep wound in the heart. Whatever anti-Indian sentiment people in Bangladesh now have, the rampant killing in the border has no less responsible for this. India needs to understand that if it wants to get Bangladesh beside it and win the heart of its people, it will have to stop killing in the border. Often described as the bloodiest one in the world, Bangladesh-India border often gets far and wide coverage in the media around the world. The friendly relations between these two countries would have been still warmer if the Indian side could positively bring down the number of deaths to zero in the border. In fact, Bangladesh received repeated commitments from the top level of India that they would see into the matter, but the ground reality has remained as unchanged. The spate of border killings reminds us how fatal the BSF men could be towards the fellow human beings of a neighbouring nation without any rhyme and reason. That is why many think whether BSF personnel have pathological hatred for Bangladeshi civilians. The BSF killed Bangladeshis like birds --- remember the body of Felani Khatun that hung from the barbed wire --- or beat inhumanly Bangladeshi cattle traders making them naked as the NDTV video footage demonstrated several years ago. There is no denying the fact there are border aberrations. But killing the aberrant persons, either by BSF or Indian citizens, is not the right way to deal with this crime. The norm is when an incident of illegal trespass happens, the security guards of the relevant country arrest the aberrant person, hold meeting with the counterparts, and as per law the person is awarded punishment when necessary, satisfactory to both sides. In the US-Mexico border, for example, Mexican trespassers are returned by the US side invariably. If BSF can spot a Bangladeshi to shoot, we do not believe that they cannot arrest him also. A human life is always valuable. But what are being done on along the border by the BSF clearly negates a persons right to justice. Bangladesh and India border is certainly not a war front. In fact, these two nations have been professing friendship right from the creation of Bangladesh in 1971 and in the recent years, the friendship has been said to have reached a certain height. Is this friendship only a matter of show and there is no sincerity in it? India has always recognised the genuineness of grievances of Bangladesh arising from the border. Now the time is for them to deliver as per the commitment. For Bangladesh, making aware its people along the border is more important because it is they, after all, become victims. The relevant district administrations along the border can very well educate the citizens in this line. In the discussion of border relations in Bangladesh, often Indias attitude to Pakistan is mentioned that India dares not kill a Pakistani because Pakistan inevitably will kill an Indian in retaliation to that offense. But Bangladeshs relations with India are not that of Pakistans relations with India. They are said to have been based on friendship while relations between India and Pakistan since the partition in 1947 is largely antagonistic. Moreover, Bangladesh is a weak country. For the perpetration of mass murder, torture and rape during 1971 for which Pakistan has not apologised fromally to Bangladesh yet, its relation to Pakistan is not growing to the desired level. Though Bangladesh once was part of Pakistan, it is not a neighbour of Bangladesh, but India is. One of the famous 10 Commandments of prophet Moses - Love thy neighbour as thyself - is a truism, not just a moral instruction. India and Bangladesh can make their border relations warm in the light of this shining wisdom. The writer can be contacted at: [email protected]