Author: Suhas Chakma
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: May 2, 2003
Border Security Force chief Ajai
Raj Sharma is to hold talks with his counterparts in Dhaka, among others,
to discuss the contentious illegal migration of Bangladeshis into India
and hammer out a strategy to avoid standoffs along the Indo-Bangladesh
border. The Indo-Bangladesh relationship took a nose-dive after the standoffs
in Malda and Coochbehar of West Bengal early this year. According to the
BSF chief, New Delhi hopes to formalise logistics for coordination between
the BSF and the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) patrolling the border to curb infiltrators
and smugglers. New Delhi also hopes to develop "common minimum points"
to identify the nationality of infiltrators who would be detained in police
station before their identification.
New Delhi's simplistic views on
the illegal migration issue are partly responsible for the continuing adhocism
reflected from occasional border standoffs. Nothing explains more acutely
the complexity of the issue than the politics on illegal migrants in Assam.
The anti-foreigner agitation of All Assam Students Union (AASU) since 1979
culminated into the Nellie massacre on 18 February 1983. The AASU, christened
as Asom Gana Parishad, did little to identify the foreigners during its
10 years reign in the State. Under the Illegal Migrants Determination Tribunal
Act, a key component of the Assam Accord, Assam Police expelled only 1,491
illegal migrants to Bangladesh from 1986 to 2000. Given Dhaka's position,
New Delhi's expectation of cooperation from Dhaka is naive. In addition,
Dhaka has little incentive to beef-up the BDR presence to stop illegal
migrants. It is simply New Delhi's headache.
New Delhi has a one-eyed view on
the issue. Undoubtedly, a large number of illegal migrants are Muslims
and their presence is visible. However, India has turned a blind eye to
the migration of Hindus minorities who have been forced to leave Bangladesh.
Although, no estimates are available, the number of Hindu migrants may
be larger than the Muslim migrants.
After the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war,
the then Pakistan Government identified the Hindus as enemies under the
Enemy Property (Custody and Registration) Order-II of 1965 and dispossessed
them of their properties. According to the Association for Land Reform
and Development (ALRD), a Dhaka-based NGO, a total of 10,48,390 Hindu households
have been affected by the Vested Properties Act, and estimates that 1.05
million acres of land have been dispossessed. About 30 per cent of the
Hindu households (including those that are categorised as missing households)
or 10 out of every 34 Hindu households are the victims of the VPA/EPA.
After independence, then Bangladesh
President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in his Order no 29 of 1972 changed the
nomenclature from Enemy Properties Act (EPA) to "Vested Property Act" (VPA).
Most of the Hindu properties under the Pakistani regime in East Pakistan
were appropriated by the Awami League members. Mujib wanted to protect
their interests. The Matabbars, village headmen, irrespective of their
political affiliation, continue to grab Hindu lands.
As a show of another political tokenism,
in April 2001 the Sheikh Hasina Government passed the Vested Property Return
Act to return lands that were seized. The Government was tasked to prepare
a list of vested property holdings by October 2001, and claims were to
have been filed within 90 days of the publication date. The Government
is yet to publish the list of vested properties. Rather, on November 26,
2002, Bangladesh Parliament passed an amendment to the Vested Property
Act allowing the Government unlimited time to return the properties. The
institutional discrimination against the Hindus increased under Begum Zia's
regime
Illegal migration of Bangladeshis
directly contributes to insurgency problems and undoubtedly poses a threat
to demographic composition in the North East and threat to national security.
The insurgency in Tripura is a case in point. New Delhi needs to take a
pragmatic approach. On Hindu migration, it must raise the repeal of Vested
Properties Act with the Government of Bangladesh, return of properties
to the Hindus, provide refuge to those who flee because of atrocities and
ensure their return with safety and dignity in conformity with international
law. However, for those searching for lebensraum, India must prepare on
war footing by fencing the borders, augmenting the BSF camps by reducing
the gaps between them and continuous patrolling.
Episodic reactions will at best
lead to border stand-offs. The plight of the Hindu minorities in Bangladesh
cannot be resolved by opening the floodgates to millions of Bangladeshi
Hindus. Nor increasing the BSF camps can reduce illegal migration if its
jawans continue to allow the illegal migrants to cross the border by paying
a Rs 100 bribe. New Delhi has an uphill task of tackling migration of Bangladeshis
and it must set its own house in order first.
