South Asia Economic and Policy Studies Amit Ranjan India–Bangladesh Border Disputes History and Post-LBA Dynamics South Asia Economic and Policy Studies Series editors Sachin Chaturvedi, Director General, RIS for Developing Countries, New Delhi, India MustafizurRahman,ExecutiveDirector,CentreforPolicyDialogue(CPD),Dhaka, Bangladesh Abid Suleri, Executive Director, Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Islamabad, Pakistan Dushni Weerakoon, Executive Director, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, Colombo, Sri Lanka The Series aims to address evolving and new challenges and policy actions that maybeneededintheSouthAsianRegioninthe21stcentury.Itventuresnicheand makes critical assessment to evolve a coherent understanding of the nature of challengesandallow/facilitatedialogueamongscholarsandpolicymakersfromthe regionworkingwiththecommonpurposeofexploringandstrengtheningnewways toimplementregionalcooperation.Theseriesismultidisciplinaryinitsorientation and invites contributions from academicians, policymakers, practitioners, consul- tants working in the broad fields of regional cooperation; trade and investment; finance; economic growth and development; industry and technology; agriculture; services; environment, resources and climate change; demography and migration; disaster management; globalization and institutions among others. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15400 Amit Ranjan – India Bangladesh Border Disputes History and Post-LBA Dynamics 123 Amit Ranjan Institute of SouthAsian Studies National University ofSingapore Singapore Singapore ISSN 2522-5502 ISSN 2522-5510 (electronic) SouthAsiaEconomic andPolicy Studies ISBN978-981-10-8383-9 ISBN978-981-10-8384-6 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8384-6 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2018940100 ©SpringerNatureSingaporePteLtd.2018 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpart of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission orinformationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilar methodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. 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Printedonacid-freepaper ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbytheregisteredcompanySpringerNatureSingaporePteLtd. partofSpringerNature Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:152BeachRoad,#21-01/04GatewayEast,Singapore189721, Singapore For My Parents Acknowledgements Thisbookisaresultoftwoaccidents.First,in2013,afteraseriesoffailedattempts to get a job, I got a call from the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), New Delhi,tojoinasaResearchFellow.Second,attheICWA,Iwasinstructedtowork onBangladesh—acountryaboutwhichIhadlittleknowledge,Istartedthelearning process, and this book is a result of it. Along with Deputy General of the ICWA, Ajaneesh Kumar, I am also thankful to Dr. Vijay Sakhuja, Dr. Pankaj Jha, Dr. Rahul Mishra, Dr. Shamshad Ahmad Khan and Dr. Smita Tiwari. A special thanks to Vishal and Jagbir who, during my ICWA days, assured that every morning I get my breakfast. Although the project got some structure during my tenure at the ICWA, I fin- ished it to my satisfaction only after I joined the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), National University of Singapore, in February 2017. I am thankful to my colleagues at ISAS who have provided me competitive but friendly atmosphere. Thanks to the Chairman of ISAS, ambassador-at-large Mr. Gopinath Pillai, Professor Subrata Kumar Mitra, Mr. Hernaikh Singh, Mr. Vinod Rai, Dr. D. Subbarao, Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, Dr. Amitendu Palit, Dr. DipinderSingh,Dr.RonojoySen,Dr.Jivanta,Dr.Shrikant,Dr.SojinShinandMr. Rajeev Ranjan Chaturvedy. DuringmyfieldworkinNewDelhi,ImetafewBangladeshiswhocrossedover into the Indian side of the border in 1971 as a refugee, but now they identify themselvesasBengalisfromtheIndianstateofWestBengalliving inDelhi. They informed me about their roots and original identity after I promised them to not revealtheirnames,locationandotherformsofidentitywhichcouldposeproblems to them. They also told me their part of the stories about the atrocities they experiencedin1971,andsharedthetraumaofbeingdisplacedfromtheir‘roots’in Bangladesh. This includes both Hindus and Muslims. I also met a few migrants fromBangladeshwhomoveacrossIndia–Bangladeshborderlineatregularinterval oftime.Theysharedtheirexperiencesofcrossingintotheothersideoftheborder. Thanks to all of them. I also discussed this issue with people in Guwahati and Dhaka during my visits to the respective cities. Most of myinteractions with them vii viii Acknowledgements wereinformal.Thishelpedmetolearnalotabouttheborder,borderlandandtheir ‘violation’. Insearchoftheliteratureanddocumentsonthetheme,Ireceivedalotofsupport fromthestaffmembersoftheCentralReferenceLibrary,UniversityofDelhi,New Delhi; Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi; ICWA Library; and National University of Singapore, Singapore. Thanks to all staff members of the respective libraries. I am grateful to my parents, my brothers and my sister for all forms of support they extended to me. I am also grateful to my ex-room partner Dayanand Rai. We stayed together for more than three years. My roommates from my days in JNU, Ramesh Singh and Sandeep Biswas, were very helpful during my days at the university. My friends Angana Guha Roy, Kumar Dhananjay, Munil, Viswamitra, Neeraj, Somya, Prakash, Binod, Vikash Anand, Riya et al. have made invaluable contributions in this book in their own respective ways. MywifeJyotideservesspecialthanks.Threedaysaftermymarriage,Ileftherin Mumbai to complete a few of my pending research works. Till now she has not complained about it. Thanks Jyoti! Finally, I am thankful to Nupoor Singh and her team from Springer. A usual disclaimerapplieswiththismanuscript.Theviewsexpressedinthisbookaremine and do not reflect and represent views of my past or the present employers. Contents 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 India–Bangladesh Border Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Questions, Arguments and Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Structure of the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Note on Terminology and Spellings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 2 Border: Physical, Political and Emotional Construct . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Defining Border: Beyond a Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Border and Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Border and Identity: Creation and Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Border: An Emotional Line. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 3 Drawing a Line Between Two Bengals: History and Politics . . . . . . 37 Partition of Bengal 1905: Administrative Necessity or Religion Based Division of Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Partition of Bengal in 1947: Emergence of Competitive Identity . . . . . . 44 Demand for United Bengal: A Last Minute Effort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Partitioning Bengal: Significance of Identity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 4 India–Bangladesh Border Disputes, 1947–2015. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Border Disputes from 1947–1971: Tensions and Disagreements . . . . . . 66 Signing of The LBA: A Sign of India–Bangladesh Bonhomie. . . . . . . . 72 Can LBA Be a Model to Resolve India’s Other Border-Related Disputes?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 ix x Contents Maritime Border Disputes: Accepting Adjustments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 5 Post-LBA Dynamics: An Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Population Movement Along the India–Bangladesh Border: Identity and Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Tensions Over ‘Securing’ Their Border from Violation. . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Rise of Militancy and Insurgency: Internal–External Linkages. . . . . . . . 110 Economic Aspects of Border. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Fencing the Border: Can It Stop the Violation of Line? . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Border Haats: Economic Engagement of Borderland Population . . . . . . 121 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Current Status of India–Bangladesh Relationships. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Some Suggestions to Deal with Post-LBA Border-Related Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Appendix A... .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 141 Appendix B... .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 143 Appendix C... .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 147 Appendix D... .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 153 Glossary.. .... .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 159