Fellow Seminar: Centre for Land Warfare Studies 10/9/2009 Chair: Ambassador Veena Sikri. Speaker: Dr. Mansi Mehrotra, Associate Fellow, Centre for Land Warfare Studies. Discussants: Dr. Sanjay Bharadwaj, Associate Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Colonel Gopal Gurung, Senior Fellow, Centre for Land Warfare Studies; RSN Singh, Associate Editor, Indian Defence Review.

1. Security Challenges to
India-Bangladesh Relations
Dr. Mansi Mehrotra
Associate Fellow
Centre for Land Warfare Studies (2009)

2. Framework
• Terrorism
• Illegal Immigration
• Border Security and Border Management
• Recommendations

3. Potential Transnational Threats from
Bangladesh
• Trans-border Terrorism
– Religious extremism
– Attacks on ethnic minorities
• Global Crimes
– Drugs and arms trafficking
– Smuggling of Contraband
– Human Trafficking
• Illegal Immigration
– Environmental Degradation
– Food Security

4. Bangladesh: The New Hub of
International Terrorism

5. Political Radicalisation
•Zia-ur-Rehman (1977-1981)
•Hussain Mohammad Ershad (1982-1990)
•Begum Khalida Zia
Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh
Islamic Oikko Joti
•Sheikh Hassina Wajed

6. Causes for the Politicisation of Islam
• To counterweight Awami League’s
secular ideology
• Lack of mature political leadership
• Politics of expediency of secular parties
• Vague socialist political policies
• Ineffective resistance of civil society

7. Rise of Islamic Extremism in
Bangladesh
• Internal Factors
–Unstable social and economic setup
–Absence of democratic polity
–Easy money laundering
–Favorable socio-political environment
–Coercion as an acceptable mode of governance
• Ineffective governance
• Ineffective police force
–Criminalisation of politics

8. –Absence of state institutions in certain
geographical areas, particularly at the local
level
–Presence of Islamist in
• government structure,
• educational institutions,
• judiciary,
• mass media,
• armed forces

9. • External Factors
–9/11 and US led war on terror
–India-Bangladesh relations
–Cross-border cooperation among the
militant groups of Myanmar, north-east
India and Bangladesh
–Easy availability of weapons
–Proxy war by Pakistan

10. Main Islamist Groups in Bangladesh
• 20 militant groups
–Main groups
• Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami- Bangladesh
• Islamic Chhatra Shibir
• Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh
• Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen
• 48 training centres

11. International Links
• Pakistan
• Afghanistan
• China
• Southeast Asia

12. Financial Sources
• Saudi Arabia
• Jeddah
• Qatar
• Kuwait
• United Arab Emirates
• Pakistan
• Zakat
• Welfare and financial organisations
• Investment in institutions and enterprises

13. • Institutionalised extortions
• Regular contributions by its members and
associations
• Profit from sales of proceeds of its literature
• Non Government Organisations
• Drugs and arms smuggling
– Smuggling of contraband

14. Madrassas as the Breeding Ground
for Terrorists
• Estimated madrassas= 64,000
• Types of madrassas
–Aliya
–Deoband
• 7,122 registered madrassas
• The clerics mainly belong to IOJ
• “Bangladeshi Taliban” are students of these
madrassas.
• Madrassas also used as training camps

15. Sanctuary for Indian Terrorists /
Insurgent Groups
• 2003 BSF listed militant training camps
• 2005, Ministry of External Affairs prepared a list of
Indian insurgent groups
• The links of the insurgent groups fall under three
categories
–Islamic terrorist groups operating in Jammu and
Kashmir
–Indian insurgent groups, including Islamic groups,
operating in the north-east
–other umbrella organisations

16. The camps of the insurgent groups are
located in
–Dhaka
–Mymensingh
–Sunamganj
–Rangmali
–Khegrachari
–Bandarban

17. Bangladesh Government Efforts to
Eradicate Terrorism
• Elite counterterrorist Rapid Action Battalion
(RAB)
- At present its manpower strength is 12
battalions.
• Proposal for formation of “South Asian Anti-
Terrorism Task force”

18. Recommendations
• Investigating and checking any links with the local
administration, military and politicians
• Dismantling support infrastructure
• Improving law and order situation
• Identifying the sources of weapons of the militants
• Commitment to modern education
• Balanced social and economic development
• Regional Cooperation – Joint Task Force
• Bangladesh needs to rethink its relations with India
• India and Bangladesh should show zero tolerance
towards any security threats

19. Illegal Immigration: Effects and
Consequences

20. Types of Migration from Bangladesh
• Permanent immigrants
• Floating population

21. North-East India
• British “Inner Line”
• Partition of Bengal 1905
• Immigration (Expulsion from
Assam) Act 1950
• Nehru-Liaquat Ali Khan
Agreement of 8 April 1950
• Assam Plan (1964)
• Indira-Mujib Agreement
1972
• Illegal Migrants
(Determination by Tribunal)
Act 1983
• Assam Accord 1985

22. Illegal Bangladeshi Immigrants
Home Ministry 1980
Between 1961-1971
- 9,67,000 entered Assam
2,14,000 displaced persons
7,53,000 illicit immigrants
In 1999 it was disclosed
Inquiries against suspected immigrants 3,02,554
Screening Committee 2,96,564
IMDT Tribunals 31,264
Persons declared illegal migrants by IMDT 9,625
Number of illegal migrants expelled 1,461

23. Implications of Illegal-Immigration
• Insurgency
• Demographic imbalance
• Environmental degradation
• Strain on resources
• Bangladeshis asserting their political,
economic, social and educational rights
• Rise of madrassas in the border areas

24. Bangladesh Claims
• No Bangladeshi population in India
• Lebensraum

25. Hindu Population in Bangladesh
• Decline in Hindu population in Bangladesh
– 31% in 1947
– 19% in 1961
– 14% in 1974
– 9% in 2002
• Ethnic persecution

26. Recommendations
• Pro-active rather than a reactive policy towards the
issue of illegal immigrants
• Develop legislative and administrative mechanisms that
stem the flow of irregular migration
• Enforce Foreigners Act 1946
• Adherence to human rights
• Promote economic, educational and training programs
• Develop bilateral economic relations
• Cross border investment and transfer of technology
• Control mechanism should to implemented
• Regulation of work permits and identity cards
• Effective border management

27. India-Bangladesh Border

28. • India Bangladesh Borders as per Ministry of
Defence in 4351 Km.
–It runs through 25 districts and five states,
visa-a-vie,
• West Bengal (2217 Kms);
• Assam (262 Kms)
• Meghalaya (443 Kms)
• Tripura (856 Kms)
• Mizoram (318 Kms)
–The reverine border between India and
Bangladesh is nearly 781 Kms.

29. Land Border: A Contentious Quandary
Between India and Bangladesh
• Porous borders
• Disputed Enclaves
–125 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh
–75 Bangladeshi enclaves in India
• 65 enclaves in the West Bengal-Bangladeshi
border Out of them 35 are adverse possessions
and 31 are reverse possessions

30. Enclaves

31. Adverse Possession
• Indian land under Adverse possession of BD
–2,853.50 acres
• 2,062.23 acres West Bengal
• 791.10 acres Assam and Meghalaya
• .17 acres Tripura
• Bangladesh land under Adverse Possession of India
–2,154.50 acres
• 1,437.60 acres West Bengal
• 7.00 acres Assam
• 548 acres Meghalaya
• 161.90 acres Tripura

32. Undemarcated Borders
–Demarcation of 6.1 km of the border in
three sectors, namely:
• Lathitilla-Dumabari (3 km in Assam
sector)
• South Berubari (1.5 km in West Bengal
sector)
• Muhuri river/Belonia sector (1.6 km in
Tripura sector)
Bangladesh cites a document of 1937
India relying on land records of 1914

33. Agreements on India’s Eastern
Borders
• Nehru-Noon Agreement on India-East Pakistan
(September 10, 1958)
• Indo-Bangladesh Agreement in 1974

34. India’s Security Concern from
Bangladesh due to Porous Borders
• Trans-border terrorism and movement of insurgents
• Illegal-immigration
• Arms and narcotic smugglers
– Smuggling of the contraband
• Establishment of madrassas, particularly in the
border areas
• Human trafficking

35. Indian Border Management
• Approximately 45 battalions of the BSF
• 725 Border Observation Posts (BOPs)
• The front wise average distance between BOPs
–South Bengal- 5.2 kilometers
–North Bengal 5.9 kilometers
–Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur and Nagaland- 5.1
Km
–Tripura, Cachar and Mizoram- 6.1 kilometers. the
inter-BOP distance is 5 to 7 kms.

36. Bangladesh Border Management
• Bangladesh Rifles

37. Border Fencing
Name of the
State
Length of the
border (in
kms.)
Sanctioned
length of
the fencing
(in kms.)
Work
completed
(in kms.)
Expenditure
incurred so
far (Rs. in
million)
West Bengal 2216.7 507 505 921.1
Tripura 856 - - -
Assam 262 152 149 192.9
Meghalaya 443 198 198 283.9
Mizoram 318 - - -
Indian side emphasises border fencing within
and up to 150 yards of the international border

38. Name of the
State
Length of
the
border(in
kms.)
Sanctioned
length of the
fencing(in
kms.)
Estimated
Expenditure
(Rs. in billion)
Expected
year of
completion
West Bengal 2216.7 1021 4.40 2006-07
Tripura 856 736 2.13 2006-07
Assam 262 71.5 0.25 2006-07
Meghalaya 443 201 0.58 2006-07
Mizoram 318 400* 1.11 2006-07

39. • Bangladesh stresses the need to conform to
the 1975 border guidelines
• Government of Tripura is also against fencing
200 km. on Bangladesh-Tripura border

40. Problems in Border Management
• Unresolved borders
• Porous borders
• Difficult terrain
• Difficulty in identifying Bangladeshis
• Administrative and technical difficulties in
deportation of Bangladeshi nationals
• Criminal-administration-police nexus
• There are more than 100 villages on the zero line

41. Villages on Zero line

42. • Lack of effectiveness of BSF
• Unfriendly relations between the BSF and the
border population
• Absence of coordination amongst military, para-
military and police forces
• Poor intelligence
• Lack of development on the border areas
• Cheap labour
• Lack of understanding amongst the decision-makers
about the border security issues

43. Dhaka demands vis-à-vis Delhi
• Free movement of enclave people
• Permitting exchange of enclave people
• Speedy demarcation of the border line
• Refrain from pushing Bengali speaking
nationals into Bangladesh
• Adopting methods to check violation of the
border by Indian civilians and BSF members
• Indian ratification of the 1974 Indira-Mujib
Agreement

44. Unresolved Maritime Boundaries
• India is yet to ratify its maritime boundary
with Bangladesh
• According to the United Nations Convention
on Law of the Sea, Bangladesh must
demarcate its sea boundaries by July 27, 2011,
India by June 29, 2009 and Myanmar by May
21, 2009.
• Claim over New Moore islands

45. India’s Maritime Security
• Drugs and arms smuggling
• Sea bunkering
• Counterfeits currency trafficking
• Poaching of human trafficking
• Illegal immigration
• Maritime terrorism
• Piracy
• Smuggling of contraband
• Humans trafficking
• Illegal fishing
• Maritime insurgency
• Mercenary activities
• Sabotage of maritime trade

46. Major obstacles for Maritime Security
• No firm policies and legal enforcement
measures
• Over-abundance of organisations dealing with
maritime border
• No well coordinated surveillance and security
of the extended maritime zone
• Increase in domestic shipping tonnage

47. Maritime Security Scenario in India
• Indian Navy,
• Coast Guard

48. Recommendations
• Demarcate the undemarcated border, both land
and sea
• Temporary permits for migrants on humanitarian
grounds.
• Complete fencing of the border
• Construction of jeepable roads close to the fence
• Removal of settlements along the fencing and on
the zero line
• Clear directions to be given to the BSF to stop
further infiltration

49. • BSF and Bangladesh border security personnel to
work out strategies to deal with organised criminal
activities
• Create awareness among the local population
• A comprehensive and continuous process of the
proper mapping and movement of populations
• Deny all benefits flowing from the government
• Process of gradually disenfranchising the illegal
migrants
• Legislative changes
• Increase in pay and allowances benefits
• Up-gradation of the Coast Guard
• Establishment of specialised marine police

50. • Joint naval exercise
• Navy and Coast Guard to set up Joint Operations
Rooms
• Tracking and monitoring the movements of all ocean-
going ships
• Larger navies should train the smaller navies to do
maritime counter-terrorism.
• Monitoring of the coast up to a distance of 200 nautical
miles by the use of radars
• Port security
• Coordination and joint patrol

51. • Prevent unauthorised settlements along the
borders
• Initiate special development programmes in the
border region
• Promoting the concept of Village Voluntary Forces
• Information networking

52. Thank You