India Bangladesh Relations- A Forty Year Retrospective

(Photo Acknowledgement: The Hindu Photo Archives) A challenge to us, the early arrivals in the US following the birth of Bangladesh as an independent country, was to explain to our hosts who we are. India they all knew about, and to a great extent Pakistanthanks to the US interests in that country. The more well informed segments in the US were aware of the struggle for Bangladeshmany in fact had lobbied for it. But as a nation we always figured in the periphery of US public curiosity. We came into focus only when natural disaster struck us, and when the media pointed us out in the mapout in a small corner of the subcontinent --a country nearly subsumed by a gigantic neighbor. Yet this small country of ours has thrived since its bloody birth some forty years ago defying all dire predictions, and thrived rather well. For this we have to be thankful, thankful to our patient and hardworking people, and to our well wishers across the Globe and our partners in progress. And this includes our gigantic neighbor in whose shadow we live, and with whose support we got our independence. We can never forget that.

The paradox, however, is that despite a fairly harmonious relationship that dates to the birth of Bangladesh, questions have often been raised domestically and abroad on the costs and mutual benefits the two countries have derived since the inception. Did India unwittingly create a third threat on its borders and a burden for its economy when it helped Bangladesh war of independence against Pakistan? Did Bangladesh swap one economic domination for another when it gained its independence from Pakistan? Did India ever visualize that it would have to build hundreds of miles of barbed wire fencing along its border with Bangladesh to stop illegal crossing when four decades ago it had welcomed a sea of refugees into India? Did Bangladesh know that the alliance and friendship of 1971 could be replaced by a lack of trust and suspicion in last forty years? The questions pop into our mind as we stand some forty years later down the road after the first historic visit of the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to the newly born Bangladesh in 1972a birth for which she was referred to as the midwife in some quarters. These questions rise as we welcome another Indian Prime Minister to Dhaka after that historic visit. The 1972 visit led to the historic agreement of peace of 1972 between India and Bangladesh, which cemented publicly Bangladeshs deep gratitude to India for its support in 1971 war. The euphoria and optimism that surrounded that agreement have since given way to cynicism in both countries on intentions, deficits of trust, and ambiguity on future relationship. What has gone wrong? Over the last forty years India has grown from a struggling underdeveloped country to a near middleincome behemoth defying the expectations of its critics of the seventies. Its economy has grown many fold, from a mere $480 billion dollars in 1970 to $1.8 trillion in 2010. It is recognized as an emerging super power that has posted an impressive 8% annual growth for last ten years in a row. It has become the principal supplier of information technology professionals in the world, and has become the major location for global support of information technology. Foreign investors have flown in droves to India, the total investment in last ten years was nearly one trillion dollars. India is the second most sought after destination in the World for foreign investment after China. Contrast these with the development in Bangladesh in the same period. True, our economy has grown also, but it is only a shade compared with India (about one twentieth in size). We have a large funding gap in our development budget for which we are still dependent on our foreign allies, and international development agencies. We still have nearly forty percent of our population below extreme poverty; we have a large segment of our population (nearly 50%) who cannot read or write. Even with liberalization of the economy foreign investors are shy to put their money in Bangladesh. We had less than a billion dollars of foreign investment in 2010 compared with over forty billions in India. Surely, India cannot consider us an economic rival. Similarly for Bangladesh it is ridiculous to even to consider India as a competitor simply because it is too large to compete with. The answers for the bumps and grinds in the bilateral relationship of the two countries have to be found elsewhere. Some of these may be just perception, but mostly these are rooted to ground realities and perceptions. For Bangladesh the relationship is affected by lopsided trade, organized smuggling across the border, contentious water issues, and the enclaves (Chitmohals) that have remained unresolved despite the 1972 agreement to have a swap of these enclaves. Contrasted with Bangladesh, Indias view

of the relationship is perhaps more shaped by perception than reality. These negative perceptions are based on alleged Bangladesh failure to stop cross border terrorism, providing support to anti-Indian forces in its eastern front, and fears of a possible rise of radical religious forces hostile to India. The Indians were not also happy with alleged Bangladesh failure to stop illegal migration into India. First, let us look at the trade realities. Over 15% of Bangladeshi imports come from India while Bangladeshi goods are less than 1% of Indias total imports. Bangladesh has a large trade deficit with India, which is offset by surpluses with other countries. Ironically, illegal trade between the two countries amounts to 3/4 of regular trade. Ever since Bangladeshs independence there has been a substantial informal unrecorded trade across the India-Bangladesh land borders. Some of this trade has been termed as informal rather than illegal, because there is wide participation by local people in the border areas, and the field operators generally operate in liaison with the anti-smuggling enforcement agencies. Since this illegal trade is generally one way, from India to Bangladesh, the perception is that authorities in India encourage this trade to further damage Bangladesh economy. Next irritant in the relationship has been the perennial debate over our common rivers and perceived threats, real or unreal, of creation of barriers to regulate the flow of water in some rivers across the border. Since Farakka Barrage Bangladesh has been paranoid about possible water schemes across the border, and it has been trying to achieve consensus on a number of rivers that flow from upstream. A far reaching agreement has so far eluded both countries. Smuggling across the border also vexes people in both countries. Illegal trading of goods between two countries with a common border is a fairly old practice. But smuggling across the border in India and Bangladesh becomes almost a political issue when one country accuses another of facilitating this illegal trade by allowing flow of goods from one direction to another by imposing tariffs on official trade on certain goods. Add to this the perennial problem Fence or no fence the people living on two sides of the border continue to ply from one side to another deluding the law enforcing agencies. Criminals flee from one side some with connivance of the forces, and some without their knowledge, with local help. There are no reliable statistics on the volume of that takes place on a daily basis along these borders, but unofficially it is estimated that about two thirds of legal trade Chitmohol [1](Bengali: ) are the enclaves along the border of India and Bangladesh in the Indian

state of West Bengal. India has about 92 exclaves of Bangladesh, and 106 exclaves of India are within Bangladeshi soil. The enclaves were part of the high stake card or chess games centuries ago between two regional kings, the Raja of Cooch Behar and the Maharaja of Rangpur.[2] The little territories were the result of a confused outcome of a treaty between the Kingdom of Koch Bihar and the Mughal Empire.[3]

After the partition of India in 1947, Cooch Behar district was merged with India and Rangpur went to then East Pakistan, which became Bangladesh in 1971. In 1974, both countries agreed to exchange the enclaves or at least provide easy access to the enclaves, but since then little has materialised. Talks

between the two countries on the issue resumed in 2001, but the lack of a concrete time frame has relegated the issue to the back burner.

The residents of the enclaves live in abysmal conditions, with a lack of water, roads, electricity, schools and medicines. Crime also is rampant, as complaining would mean crossing the international boundary due to the lack of law enforcement resources. Residents of the enclaves may only go to their respective countries on the production of an identity card, after seeking permission from the border guards, causing much resentment. Recently the countries have moved towards an agreement to absorb the enclaves, however the resulting nationality of the current residents remains an impediment as it could have implications for border disputes in other parts of the region.[