Durham E-Theses Border management and post - 9/11 state security concerns: implications for the Bangladesh-India border Shewly, Hosna Jahan How to cite: Shewly, Hosna Jahan (2008) Border management and post - 9/11 state security concerns: implications for the Bangladesh-India border, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/2231/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 ffiowdex Management andState Security Concerns: Jmpficaticaa fat tfie ffiangrfaaetft-Juaui ffiovaex Durham University This dissertation is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of Arts in the Department of Geography The copyright of this thesis rests with the author or the university to which it was submitted. No quotation from it, or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author or university, and any information derived from it should be acknowledged. Hosna Jahan Shewly Department of Geography, Durham University, June 2008 2 5 N,;:: SUMMARY The history of Bangladesh-India border started with the partition in 1947. Bangladesh has inherited the whole India-East Pakistan border as well as the disputes and unresolved issues following her independence on 16 December, 1971. In the pre-9/11 period, organised crime, such as human trafficking, arms trade and illegal trade were major threats for Bangladesh-India border, while terrorism received the highest security concern after the events of 9/11. Visibly, the US has taken the lead in defining terrorism as the utmost threat and shaping security measures in response to the 9/11 attacks. Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, there is a trend linking the existing 'war on crime' with post-9/11 security concerns. Therefore, there is a gradual merging of societal and state security in response to transnational threats. Similarly, the 9/11 events may also be read as an opportunity to some that gave some already existing ideas, policies and technologies their chance. Besides, the high technology surveillance is not a post-9/11 invention, rather the attacks brought to the surface a number of surveillance trends that had been developing quietly and unnoticed for the previous decade and earlier. Following the US model, all the South Asian states have declared terrorism as their utmost adversary in all regional forums. Hence, they are approving a range of different agreements or safeguard measures. Therefore, a US branded 'risk perception' and 'focus on terrorism' have been transmitted to South Asia. This thesis argues post-9/11 discourses and policies towards Bangladesh- India border, in most cases, are also pushed by different anti-terrorism measures linking existing terrorist concerns with the new threat from Al-Qaeda. In other words, we can explain that 9/11 provided the context for the governments to implement some tough surveillance measures which they had failed to achieve previously. In all of the instances, none of the initiatives are completely new, but are rather a reinforcement of the previously existing surveillance systems. On the contrary, little attention has so far been paid to the resolution of decade's old border disputes and issues. It appears as though the nature of old problems is forgotten while integrating new threats. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Summary ii Table of Contents iii List of Tables iv List of Figures v List of Maps vi List of Abbreviations vii-ix Declaration of Copyright x Acknowledgements xi Chapter One: Introduction 1-17 Chapter Two: Making International Border Through Bengal: Evolution, 18-50 Politics and Dilemmas Chapter Three: Border Surveillances, Security Threats and Economic 51-77 Cooperation in the Pre-9/11 Period Chapter Four: Security Threats and Economic Cooperation in the Post- 78-97 9/1 1 Period Chapter Five: State Initiatives in Response to Threats in Post 9/11 Period 98-117 Chapter Six: Conclusion and Recommendations 118-129 References 130-146 iii LIST OF TABLES Chapter Two Table 2.1: Demarcation of the East Pakistan/Bangladesh-India Border Chapter Three Table 3.1- Pattern of Trafficking in South Asia Chapter Four Table 4.1: Major Arms Seizure in Recent Years LIST OF FIGURES Chapter Two Figure 2.1: Enclaves: An Unattended and Unresolved Puzzle 44 Figure 2.2: Diagrammatic representations of the topology, number and area 45 of the Indo-Bengal enclaves along the Cooch Behar border Chapter Three Figure 3.1: Vigilance along Bangladesh-India border 58 Figure 3.2: Bangladesh-India border fence 60 Figure 3.3: Life in Bangladesh-India border 63 v LIST OF MAPS Chapter Two Map 2.1: The British possessions of the Indian sub continent 23 Map 2.2: Bengal and Assam Boundary Claimed by the Muslim League 28 Map 2.3: Bengal and Assam Boundary Claimed by the congress 29 Map 2.4: Radcliffe Award for the Bengal Boundary and the claims of the 31 Congress and the Muslim League Map 2.5: Majority populations on either side of Bengal 32 Map 2.6: The India- Bangladesh border at Patgram 43 Chapter Three Map 3.1: Talpatti at the Course of Haria Bhanga River 61 Map 3.2: Trafficking Routes and Sites in Bangladesh 69 Map 3.3: Bangladesh, India, Myanmar Trijungtion 73 Map 3.4: Four two-way water trade routes 75 Chapter Four Map 4.1: Leftist Movement in Nepal, India and Bangladesh 88 Map 4.2: Geo-strategic Location of Bangladesh 91 Map 4.3: Existing and Potential Transport Linkages between Bangladesh and India vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ADB Asian Development Bank APL Adversely Possessed Land ASEAN Association of South East Asian Nations ATSEC Action against Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children BBC British Broad Casting BD Bangladesh BDR Bangladesh Rifles BJP Bharotio Janata Party BNP Bangladesh Nationalist Party BNWLA Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association BOP Border out Post BSF Border Security Force CBM Confidence Building Measures CHT Chittagong Hill Tracts CIA Central Intelligence Agency CTJWG Counter Terrorism Joint Working Group DG Director General EU European Union FTO Foreign Terrorist Organisation GB Great Britain Huji-B Harkat ul-Jihad-i-Islami-Bangladesh vii IANSA International Action Network on Small Arms EBR India-Bangladesh Border Road ICDDR, B International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh IG Inspector General IMF International Monetary Fund INGO International Non-Government Organisation JAJB Jagrata Muslim Janata - Bangladesh JBWG Joint Boundary Working Group JMB Jamaetool Mujahedeen Bangladesh LBA Land Boundary Agreement LTTE Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam LMG Light Machine Gun MEA Ministry of External Affairs MHA Ministry of Home Affairs MWCD Ministry of Women and Child Development NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement NBCP New Biplobi Communist Party NDC National Defence College NGO Non-Government Organisation NML No Man's Land PCU Passport Checking Unit POT A Prevention of Terrorism Act RAB Rapid Action Battalion viii RAW Research and Analysis Wing RCSS Regional Centre for Strategic Studies SAARC South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation SAARCPOL SAARC Police SALW Small Arms and Light Weapons SDGT Specially Designated Global Terrorist SEACT Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of Children including Trafficking SMG Sub-Machine Gun STOMD SAARC Terrorist Offences Monitoring Desk TADA Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act TPR Trafficking in Persons Report UN United Nations UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime USAID United States Agency for International Development ix fd ) DECLARATION OF COPYRIGHT I confirm that no part of the material presented in this thesis has previously been submitted by me or any other person for a degree in this or any other university. In all cases, where it is relevant, material from the work of others has been acknowledged. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without prior written consent from the author. Signed, Date: lif.o^.oj x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation is not merely a product of one year, rather an aggregate of several years' professional experiences and then academic understanding. I would like to take the privilege to express my gratitude to my first supervisor, Professor David Campbell, for his kind supervision, valuable suggestion, confident guidance and encouragement and cooperation all along. My second supervisor, Dr. Louise Amoore, helped me a lot to develop my theoretical understanding on biometric border, terrorism and war on terrorist financing. I am really proud for being supervised by both of them. Their careful and always remarkably prompt reading of my chapters and papers, as well as diligent correspondence and insightful comment and counsel was supervision above and beyond the call of duty. I am highly indebted to Charles Wallace Bangladesh Trust for their generous financial support to my tuition fees. I am grateful to Professor Peter J Atkins, Durham University, for his valuable advice on my initial proposal and endless cooperation. Peter also helped me to find my supervisors. I am also thankful to Dr. Nick Megoran, Newcastle University, for advising me about different perspectives of my research.