Bangladesh–India border

Bangladesh is enclosed almost entirely by India.

Bangladesh and India share a border of 2,429 miles.^[1] Bangladeshi Divisions of Khulna, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Mymensingh, Sylhet and Chittagong, along with Indian states of West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram are situated along the border. A number of pillars are built in order to form the border among the two states. Small demarcated portions of the border is fenced on both sides.

History

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The border of present day Bangladesh first came into being when the Bengal Presidency was created by the British. When India became independent from Britain in 1947, the country was divided among Muslim and non-Muslim majority areas. Likewise the provinces of Punjab, Bengal and the Sylhet district of Assam were also bifurcated and the border came into being. Muslims were the majority in the western part of India and the eastern part of Bengal province. These two areas formed the new Islamic republic of Pakistan. East Pakistan became Bangladesh in the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971.

Geography

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The border divides the Ganges delta region and the Sundarban mangrove forest. It is crisscrossed by a large number of rivers. The area is mostly flat with slight hilly terrain in Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura and Mizoram sections. The border area is densely populated. The land is extremely fertile and is cultivated right up to the border pillars. Sometimes the border line passes right through villages, even buildings. The area is patrolled by the Indian Border Security Force BSF of India and BGB of Bangladesh.

Issues

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The border is the used as a route for smuggling livestock, food items and drugs from India to Bangladesh. Moreover, many Bangladeshis illegally migrate to India and vice versa in case of Indians in order to standardize their livelihood. Hence, the Indians who patroll the border use the shoot-at-sight policy on anyone who is seen over the border area which although increases awareness, but also is an unfair policy.^[2][3][4] Each year hundreds of Bangladeshis lose their lives at the hand of BSF, while trying to cross the border. The border has also witnessed occasional skirmishes between BSF and BDR such as in 2001.

On July 2009, Channel 4 News reported that hundreds of Bangladeshis and Indians were killed by the BSF along the Indo-Bangladeshi Barrier. The BSF claims that the barrier's main purpose is to check illegal immigration and to prevent cross-border terrorism.^[5] In 2010, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a 81 page report which brought up uncountable abuses of the BSF. The report was compiled from the interviews taken from the victims of BSF torments, witnesses, members of the BSF and its Bangladeshi counterpart. The report stated that over 900 Bangladeshi citizens were killed during the first decade of the 21st century. According to HRW, BSF did not only shoot illegal migrants or smugglers but even innocents who were seen near or across the border. .^[6]

On 18th January 2012, NDTV showed a video, where a group of BSF Jawans were ruthlessly beating up a young Bangladeshi man near the Bangladesh border after he refused to pay the demanded bribe. The victim was seen on the ground with his hands and feet tied, and a BSF men in uniform was found to punch and hit the victim with a club in an almost naked condition. BSF top officers acknowledged that this incident took place on 9th December. BSF DIG Vikas Chandra, said, "The eight personnel have been identified and suspended pending inquiry," ^[7] .^[8] Video is still available in this link.^[9] According to The Guardian, UK " India's Border Security Force (BSF), has carried out a shoot-to-kill policy. "^[10]

BSF has often been accused by Bangladesh government of incursions into Bangladesh territory, and indiscriminate shooting of civilians along the India-Bangladesh borders. This was in retaliation to massive illegal immigration from Bangladesh to India, for which the Indo-Bangladeshi Barrier is presently underway/^[11] In a news conference in August 2008, Indian BSF officials admitted that they killed 59 illegals (34 Bangladeshis, 21 Indians, rest unidentified) who were trying to cross the border during the prior six months.^[12] Bangladeshi media accused the BSF of abducting 5 Bangladeshi children, aged between 8 and 15, from the Haripur Upazila in Thakurgaon District of Bangladesh, in 2010. The children were setting fishing nets near the border.^[13] In 2010, Human Rights Watch has accused the Border Security Force for the indiscriminate killings. BSF allegedly killed a 15 years old Bangladeshi girl on 7th January 2011, while she and her father were climbing the Indo-Bangladeshi barrier using a ladder.^[14]

Many conferences have been held between India and Bangladesh to discuss such issues as smuggling and trespassing, cattle lifting, trafficking of drugs and arms. Colonel Muhammad Shahid Sarwar of Bangladesh Rifles gave Border Security Force a list of miscreants which took place in India, and the BSF side also handed over a similar list to the BDR.

Exclaves

The border area is dotted with over a hundred Indian exclaves within Bangladesh, and over fifty Bangladeshi exclaves within India. They result from pre-colonial treaties between the Maharajah of Cooch Behar and the Nawab of Rangpur (state)^{[clarification needed]}, and were maintained at the time of partition between India and what was then East Pakistan in 1947. Residents of the exclaves generally live in miserable conditions, lacking access to basic services such as healthcare or electricity. These are not provided by their own government, as they are isolated from it by a strip of foreign land; nor are they provided by the surrounding state. They cannot visit their own country without crossing the international border surrounding the exclave.^[15]

In September 2011, the two countries agreed on land swaps to resolve the issue. The exclaves' population, over 50,000 people, would have a say in the matter, and each person would ultimately be allowed to choose their nationality.^[16]

Indo-Bangladeshi barrier

The border Fence close to the Hili Border station (West-Bangladesh)

India is presently constructing the Indo-Bangladeshi barrier, a 4,000 kilometer fence of barbed wire and concrete just under 3 metres high, to prevent illegal immigration and the smuggling of weapons and narcotics. Flood lights are also being installed in the West Bengal sector. The project was sanctioned for 2881 crore rupees (600 million US dollars) and was expected to be complete by 2009. As of November 2007, 2529 km of border fencing was completed.^[17]

Under the former government of Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh troops clashed with the Indian Border Security Force in an attempt to prevent the fencing. Some indigenous Assamese fear that they, as a people, will be reduced to a minority in Assam if unabated infiltration from Bangladesh continues.^[18][19]

There is no clear completion date for the US $1.2 billion project yet. The barrier when complete will be patrolled by the Border Security Force. The fence will also be electrified at some stretches. In Assam, 197 km of the 263 km border has been fenced.^[20]

The BSF claims that the barrier's main purpose is to check illegal immigration, and prevent cross-border terrorism.^[5]

See also

• Bangladesh–India relations
• Indian Kashmir barrier
• Separation barrier
• Indo-Burma barrier
• Indo-Bangladesh enclaves
• Teen Bigha Corridor
• 2001 Indian–Bangladeshi border conflict

References

External links

• India-Bangladesh border gunfire
• News from India

v t e Bangladesh–India relations Treaties and summits Indo-Bangladeshi Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Peace Events and conflicts Bangladesh Liberation War Mitro Bahini Mukti Bahini Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 Farakka Barrage Sharing of Ganges Waters Chitmahal (Teen Bigha Corridor) Indo-Bangladesh enclaves Indian migration to Bangladesh Taslima Nasreen 2001 border conflict Illegal immigration in India Banglabandha Initiatives Maitree Express Kolkata-Dhaka Bus Transport between India and Bangladesh Indo-Bangladeshi barrier Joint River Commission Personalities Indira Gandhi Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Morarji Desai Ziaur Rahman Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sheikh Hasina Begum Khaleda Zia Manmohan Singh Related templates Foreign relations of India Foreign relations of Bangladesh India-Bangladesh land border checkpoints

Coordinates: 26°15′43″N 88°45′06″E / 26.26194°N 88.75167°E / 26.26194; 88.75167