Author: V. Sudarshan
Publication: Outlook
Date: June 17, 2002
Introduction: Reports in Bangladeshi
press say the returnees are Bangladeshis fleeing Gujarat. But Dhaka cries
infiltration.
It's a touching irony of international
politics: India has boxed Pakistan in the corner over the issue of infiltration
across the LoC, but is then accused of the same crime on its eastern border-of
pushing Bangla-speaking Indians into Bangladesh. On May 12, acting Bangladesh
foreign secretary Anwar-ul- Alam summoned Indian high commissioner M.L.
Tripathi and handed him a note verbale, protesting against what Dhaka thinks
is gross infiltration.
In the note verbale, the Bangladesh
government claimed that "several hundred Bengali-speaking families from
India are trying to flee the communal violence in Gujarat and are attempting
to illegally cross into Bangladesh".
It further said that there were
reports that the BSF is actively involved in trying to push these families
into Bangladesh. Arguing that such attempts of the BSF, to "unilaterally
push in Bengali-speaking families", would seriously destabilise the social
harmony in Bangladesh, its foreign ministry said "there were apprehensions
that unscrupulous elements from among them may create disturbances in the
country and undermine the communal harmony prevailing there".
Interestingly, the note verbale
was issued three days after Bangladesh's The Independent newspaper reported
that two representatives of the US Congress (Frank Pallone and Antony Weiner)
had written, on May 6, to Bangladesh PM Begum Khaleda Zia, expressing strong
concerns over reports of minority persecution in her country. They urged
Dhaka to establish an independent commission to investigate the atrocities
perpetrated against minorities and publish a White Paper detailing such
persecutions over the years. The letter, which was handed over to the Bangladeshi
embassy in Washington, expressed concern over the steady "Islamisation"
of Bangladesh, and sought the restoration of secularism in the country's
constitution, as it was in 1972.
What Indians find most interesting
is the unabashed way Bangladesh patted itself for not having been witness
to retaliatory attacks after Gujarat. The note said: "...the situation
in Bangladesh has been calm and there has been no outbreak of violence
in the country despite the communal riots in Gujarat that continue unabated
since February 2002." Obviously, Dhaka wasn't impressed by New Delhi's
claims that the Gujarat violence, which began on February 28, was controlled
within 72 hours.
Home ministry sources scoff at Dhaka's
allegations, pointing to reports in the Bangladeshi press which have quoted
some of the returnees as saying that they left Bangladesh for Gujarat about
a decade ago to find employment. Some 400 families- believed to number
around 2,000 people-had settled in the Astrabaj, Chandrala and Shah Alam
areas of Ahmedabad. The Gujarat violence and the selective targeting of
Muslims there made them fear for their security, forcing them to come back
home.
Their return, it's learnt, persuaded
Dhaka to double the number of BDR personnel along some stretches of the
border and increase patrolling in some border districts. Some 'refugees'
have also been arrested for returning to their home districts, to bolster
Dhaka's tenuous claims that there are no Bangladeshis settled illegally
in India.
New Delhi responded to the note
verbale on May 14, stating that since Bangladeshis were returning to Bangladesh,
there could be no question of the BSF encouraging infiltration; that the
Bangladeshi authorities should respond appropriately if some among those
returning home create communal disturbance. It also dismissed the suggestion
that incidents of communal violence in either India or Bangladesh should
lead to counter-violence in the other country.
Sources say Bangladesh hasn't provided
the precise number of illegal immigrants who have returned.But considering
Dhaka's and New Delhi's refusal to accept responsibility for the immigrants,
they could well have entered the category of those who have no country
to call their own, and are inhabitants of no man's land.
