INDIAN SECURITY AND BANGLADESH: INTERNAL DIMENSIONS AND EXTERNAL LINKAGES

See for instance, Kapila Subhas , Bangladesh Armed Forces and Islamic Fundamentalism, Paper no. 235, South Asia Analysis Group, 02.05.2001, p.2.

The previous High Commissioner of Bangladesh to India, Tufail Karim Haider has also repeatedly denied the presence of ISI bases in his country and termed the repeated accusations as ‘very insulting’ to his country. He made such remark after a meeting with the then Chief Secretary of West Bengal at Writers Building on December 17, 2002. (See report ‘Dhaka envoy denies Delhi’s ISI charges’, The Statesman, Kolkata, December 18, 2002.)

See Guha Seema , ‘Dhaka seeks proof, Delhi readies maps’, The Telegraph, New Delhi, Jan 7, 2004.

For an excellent theoretical framework on this mechanism see Sorensen Georg , Changes in Statehood: The transformation of International Relations, Palgravo, New York, 2001, p. 1.

See Habib Haroon , ‘Minorities persecuted in Bangladesh,’ The Hindu, Dhaka. May 30, 2002.

See Ahmed A.F. Salahuddin India-Pakistan-Bangladesh: Perspectives on History, Society and Politics, Readers Service, Kolkata, 2001, p. 9.

See Chopra K.K. , Bangladesh as a New Nation, Sublime publications, Jaipur. 2000, p. 46.

See Mazari Shireen , ‘Militarism and Militarisation of Pakistan Civil Society 1977-1990’ in Rupesinghe Kumar Mumtaz Khawar (ed.) ‘Internal Conflicts in South Asia’, Sage Publications for International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, Norway, 1996, p. 96.

Cited in Maniruzzaman Talukder , Politics and Security of Bangladesh, University Press Limited, Dhaka, 1994, p. 149 in a reference to a study entitled ‘Contemporary Bangladesh: A Socio-Political Study’, University of London, 1988, p. 316 by Banu U.A.B. Razia Akhter . Banu used sample survey data to understand the relationship between Islamic beliefs and the political culture in Bangladesh. In the survey it was revealed that while 53.5 percent of rural respondents wanted to elect “English educated but to some extent religious people” as their representatives, while 39.3 percent of respondents wanted to vote for orthdox religious leaders as their representatives. In the case of an urban sample, only 7 percent of the respondents indicated preference for religious leaders.

See Editorial ‘Minority Persecution: Khaleda’s vain bid to cover up dark deeds’, The Statesman, Kolkata, August 25, 2002

Also see report ‘Bharot birodhita durdosha barachche Bangladesher’ in ‘Pratidin’, January 9, 2004 by Biswas Saibal . A gist (translated by the author) of the report is as follows: The report profiles Salam Azad, an ex-student of Dhaka University who is facing threats in Bangladesh for writing and speaking in Bangladesh and abroad about the atrocities that religious minorities especially Hindus are facing in Bangladesh today. He says that the total polity of Bangladesh is now revolving around anti-Indianism which is causing trouble for the minority community of Bangladesh. He in his book ‘Bangladesher Swadhinata Juddhe Bharoter Obodan’ gives the names of about 3000 Indian soldiers who laid down their lives during the war in 1971. Salam further states that due to the anti-Hindu stance of the fundamentalist politicians, anti-Indianism has grown. In his earlier books like ‘Bangladesher Biponno Sankhyalaghu, ‘Atrocities on the minorities of Bangladesh’ have also depicted Hindu persecution with overt political connivance. Salam who has also addressed international forums says that in the name of Bangladeshi nationalism, unbridled fundamentalism is being carried out in the country. Also misconceptions were being spread about West Bengal and Kolkata.

See Editorial ‘Khaleda’s Vengeance’, The Statement, Kolkata. June 29, 2002. Also see ‘BNP shows door to President’, The Telegraph, Kolkata, June 21, 2002.

Sobhan Rehman . Bangladesh: Problems of Governance, Konark Publishrs Pvt. Ltd.. New Delhi, 1993 p. 289.

The term ‘corporatism’ had its origin in Italy during the Fascist regime. This signifies the attempt by the state apparatus to co-opt autonomous associations in decision making process in order to preempt any opposition by them in future. It is a type of buying out opposition. This mechanism is employed by states all over the world irrespective of their type or ideology. Corporatism is an infiltration of the state into the sphere of civil society. For more theoretical details see Taylor Charles , ‘Invoking Civil Society’ in E. Goodin Robert Pettit Philip (ed.) Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Anthology, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford and Massachusetts, 1997, p. 67.

See Ministry of Law, Government of Bangladesh, The Constitution of the Peoples’ Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka, 1972, p. 5.

See Bangladesh Assesment-2002, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi in website of ‘South Asian Terrorism Portal’ or http://satp.org .

For an account of the growth Islamic fundamentalism in Bangladesh in recent times along with its developing links with the Pan-Islamic organisations with links with Osama bin Laden, see Bodansky Yossef , Bin Laden: The man who declared War on America, Forum Prima Publishing, Rocklin, California, 1999, p. 224-227.

See ‘ISI active in North from Bangla bases’, Hindustan Times, Kolkata, December 22, 2002 Also see ‘Buddhadeb meets Advani over spurt in insurgency’, The Statesman, New Delhi, April 19, 2002.

See Ali Asghar Engineer , Islamic Fundamentalism and the Muslim World, in self (ed.) Islam and Revolution, Ajanta Publications, Delhi, 1984, p. 7.

Bangladeshi illegal immigrants are encroaching upon the tribal lands which have culminated in clashes between the two groups with occasional deaths over the last two years. Affected districts mainly are Nowrangpur, Koraput, Raigarh. Apart from these districts, many Muslim illegal immigrants have infiltrated the coastal districts of Orissa like Bhadrak, Puri, Balasore where there exists a sizeable Muslim population.

See Kapila , Bangladesh Armed Forces and Islamic Ftmdamentalism, p. 1.

Rahim Enayetur , ‘Bengali Muslims and Islamic Fundamentalism: The Jama’-i-lslami in Bangladesh’ in Ahmed Rafiuddin (ed) Understanding the Bengal Muslims: Interpretative Essays, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2001, p. 256

Ibid p. 256-257.

See Basu Kinsuk , ‘Bangladeshi rebels on city hate mission’, Hindustan Times, Kolkata, December 6, 2002.

Banga Sena and other organizations have despite many odds maintained an infrastructure to help out the new Hindu immigrants from Bangladesh. They have offices in Kolkata and in some border districts of West Bengal. Through impossible to materialize, the Banga Sena held a convention in Jalpaiguri in 2003 and demanded the creation of a ‘homeland’ for the persecuted Hindus of Bangladesh consisting of some western districts of Bangladesh. To examine policy of Bangladesh towards Banga Sena, see news report titled: ‘Dhaka seeks proof, Delhi readies maps’, The Telegraph, New Delhi. Jan. 7, 2004 by Guha Seema . In the first week of April, 2002, a Japanese diplomat (Mr. Hideo Fujita) of the Japanese embassy in Dhaka came on a today visit to Kolkata and met the leaders of the Bangaladesh Udbassy Udbastu Kalyan Parishad in south Kolkata which has links with the Bangal Sena. The state government and the Japanese Consulate in Kolkata tried to play down the incident. This signifies the sensitive nature of the issue. The Hindu illegal immigrants in West Bengal has been trying to find a foot hold and recognition in the society and will welcome any support internally or externally. The author who was working as the Political Affairs Officer of the Consulate General of Japan in Kolkata, witnessed the secrecy and the subsequent damage control of the officials of the Consulate over the leakage of the news of the visit to the media. For details of the visit of the Japanese diplomat, see report, ‘Yen for capital, not probe’, by Sarkar Sunando in The Telegraph, Kolkata, April 4, 2002.

In a programme attended by some Bangladeshi Hindus from Faridpur, Khulna and some other districts, the VHP passed a resolution alleging that the Hindus were being persistently persecuted in the neighbouring country since Khaleda Zia led coalition government came to power in October 2001. The resolution stated “If the atrocities on the Flindus and Buddhists do not stop completely then we will demand land in Bangladesh for setting up a separate homeland for all Hindus and Buddhists who are now living there and also for those w’ho had been systematically expelled since 1947.” The passed resolution accused the Khaleda Zia government of “unleashing a reign of terror against the Hindus”. The VHP leadership resolved to unite all Hindus of the country and the world to stop the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh. The meeting, held on December 10, 2002, was attended by important functionaries of the VHP West Bengal unit, including the president Jyotirmoy Chakraborty and the General Secretary Ajoy Kumar Nandy. (For more details see report ‘VHP’s discrimination charge against Dhaka’, in The Asian Age, Kolkata, December 16. 2002. Also see report on the same convention in ‘BJP seeks to strike a note of sympathy’, in The Times of India, Kolkata, December 16, 2002.

To examine the emerging mindset of the Hindu rightist organizations in West Bengal, see report ‘RSS expects conversion wave in state’ in The Hindustan Times, Kolkata, April 24, 2002. The increasing frequency of visit of the central level leaders of these organizations to West Bengal (hitherto unforeseen) speaks of a new focus of these organizations to harness and consolidate the frustration of the Hindus of the border areas (both immigrants and the domiciled ones) and the Hindus of the state in general in order to create a stong foothold in the state.

See Kumar Anuradha , ‘Danger from the Eastern Front’ The Telegraph, Kolkata, December 19, 2002.

See Khan Sadeq , Holiday (Dhaka), July 1, July 9, July 16, July 23, August 6, August 13, 1993.