Kirity Roy, secretary of Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), a rights organisation based in West Bengal, India, discusses the underlying issues behind border killings at the Bangladesh-India border, in an exclusive interview with Naimul Alam Alvi of The Daily Star.
The Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and India’s Border Security Force (BSF), along with the governments on both sides, have repeatedly pledged to reduce border killings to zero. But this goal remains unmet. Why is it so?
One of the primary reasons behind killings at the Bangladesh-India border is that the border guards of both countries are corrupt. Many BGB and BSF members profit from smuggling—be it human or cattle trafficking, or smuggling of other goods. Smugglers from both sides of the border pay money, and these individuals get their share. That’s why they turn a blind eye to these things. In some cases, there is retaliation, which sometimes ends in border killings. But the people who get killed are just carriers; the kingpins remain out of reach.
The Constitution of India clearly says that the state will not discriminate among people, and there will be no discriminatory policies. But it seems that for India, it is accepted that there’s a difference between the Bhutan or Nepal border and the Bangladesh border, based on how they are treated. There’s no opposition to this state of affairs from the governmental level, and no political parties are concerned about this. So this issue persists.
If you can just take some cows across the border, or throw a sack over the fence, there is money. The border guards will allow it, and even the police will guard you. But we have to understand that these people are not the kingpins of cross-border smuggling—they are just carriers.
Why is there a different attitude towards the Bangladesh-India border?
When the subcontinent became “independent” from the British, without being fully decolonised, they divided two countries according to the two-nation theory—that Hindus and Muslims are different. When India and Pakistan were born, they had a hostile, antagonistic attitude towards each other, which still exists and is even being nurtured by religious political parties. I’m not saying all Hindus or all Muslims are against each other, but there is enough of this kind of attitude between the two groups across the subcontinent. Since 1971, Bangladesh has not been a part of Pakistan, but it seems that this truth has not been processed by many individuals in the Indian foreign ministry, the military, and the BSF. The BSF was formed in 1965 as a result of the Indo-Pak war. So, there is an innate narrative that “Pakistan is our enemy,” which has turned into “Muslims are our enemy.” This is projected towards Bangladesh as well.
The India that was promised in 1947 is not the same as the India of today. There is now a Hindu nationalist party in power. Similarly, the Bangladesh of 1971, which was secular, is not the same Bangladesh now. The Hindu nationalist party carries resentment for Muslims in general. Incidentally, Bangladesh happens to fall under that criterion.
Why do people cross the border illegally in the first place?
The 1947 Partition of the subcontinent, particularly Bengal, was carried out in a blatantly arbitrary and inconsiderate manner, the repercussions of which are still felt. The partition divided many families: there are families now on both sides of the border who have relatives on the other side. They have been and will continue to try to visit their relatives; you cannot restrict them with passports, visas or barbed-wire fences. There are many who don’t have passports, or can’t afford to get passports and visas easily. Still, they want to visit their relatives, or their ancestral homes, just like they have been doing for generations since before Partition.
In addition, people migrate in search of work, a better life, and better livelihood options. People have been doing this since before Partition, and even now after the borders have been armed with barbed wire. This kind of migration should be understood and handled considering the region’s history and complexity, considering push factors and pull factors. It is the states’ responsibility to focus on these factors, instead of taking action against these people.