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No room for complacency

The regularity with which the India-Bangladesh boundary erupts in clashes between the two border security forces is alarming. Just five months ago, an officer of the Border Security Force was killed in a clash with the Bangladesh Rifles. The latest gun battle over the building of an embankment along the Mahananda on the Bangladeshi side once again calls attention to the urgent need for a better coordinated system of boundary management. The BSF says the embankment violates the rule that there will be no construction within 150 metres of no-man's land on either side of the boundary. Bangladesh says the embankment is to prevent river erosion. A flag meeting between the two sides has brought the temperature down, and the proposed ministerial-level meeting later this month at which Water Resources Development Minister Priyaranjan Das Munshi will represent India, should help to iron out differences. But there are other sources of tension on the border. For instance, India too stands accused by Bangladesh of encroaching on the no-construction zone. The fence the Indian Government is putting up along the entire 4,000-km long boundary to prevent illegal immigration is, in some places, well within barred territory. New Delhi maintains it is not a military construction and therefore, not a violation. Illegal immigration through the porous boundary is one of the biggest problems dogging bilateral ties. During the recent Dhaka visit of External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh, the two sides agreed to hold regular high-level meetings on border issues. The sooner these meetings begin, the better.

For India, the added concern is the security situation in Bangladesh, especially after August 17, when 400 explosive devices went off all over the country in a space of 30 minutes. A group called the Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) took responsibility for the bomb attacks, declaring it wanted to bring in "Islamic rule". While two persons were killed and other damage was minimal, the co-ordinated detonations spoke of a group with a well-formed network. The multiple bombings were not the first attack of this kind in Bangladesh, though in terms of sheer spread, they were certainly the biggest. International security experts have attributed many of these incidents to shadowy Islamist groups. For its part, New Delhi has long asserted the presence of extremists — Islamist and other — in Bangladesh. Thus far, Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, whose Bangladesh National Party is in a coalition with two Islamic parties, has denied the existence of such groups in the country. But there cannot be a louder wake-up call for her Government than the latest bombings, considering the targets this time were its own institutions. One of Dhaka's immediate tasks would be to ensure that the incident does not affect the November summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation. India will certainly watch with interest the Zia Government's response to the serial blasts.

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