INDIA-BANGLADESH BORDER: AN ANALYSIS OF SECURITY ISSUES

Abstract

In 1947, the international border between Pakistan and India was created by the partitioning of the subcontinent. The newly created Pakistan consisted of two land blocks, one to the west and the other to the east. The Bengal province was divided between East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and India what resulted in a poorly defined border between the two nations. The dispute over the ownership of many villages near the border was started as both countries claimed their sovereignty over them. There were 190 disputed enclaves to the India Bangladesh Border (IBB) what worsened the dispute of the border demarcation. In 1971, East Pakistan got independence as a new state named Bangladesh through a 9-month long liberation war and India joined this war physically against Pakistan. The “honeymoon period” of bilateral relations between newly created Bangladesh and India did not continue for long. There are many common issues between the two neighbors that disturbed the bilateral relations such as border killing and other security issues related to the border, and the sharing of 54 common river’s water. Odhikar, Bangladesh-based human rights organization, reported that from 2000 to 2010, India’s Border Security Force (BSF) killed at least 924 Bangladeshi nationals. MASUM, a Non-governmental Organization (NGO) has mentioned many cases only in West Bengal, a state of India. This paper tries to analyze why the IBB is violent and concludes with a recommendation that how to ensure border security. Data has been used for this study from both primary and secondary sources. The primary sources including newspapers, periodicals, and official statistics of Indian and Bangladesh governments as well as NGOs both national and international are studied. In terms of secondary sources, this paper examines academic books and book chapters, publications in scientific journals, and articles published on the topic. This paper preferred realism to explain the nature of the security issues of the IBB. The main argument of this paper is the IBB is the bloodiest in the world. To improve border security conditions the study suggests that India should act like a neighbor, not a big brother, and work with Bangladesh together. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0896/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>