Author: Chris Morris
Publication: BBC News
Date: February 19, 2009
URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7898786.stm
It doesn't look like much. The only outward
sign that the long land border between India and Bangladesh has begun is a
small white post in the middle of a field, next to the banks of the Ichamati
river.
"This is it," says our guide. "Mile
Post One."
Just behind us is the first section of a fence
that the Indian authorities say will eventually stretch for more than 4,000km
(2,485 miles) - the entire length of the border.
"The fence has helped," says Deputy
Inspector General Vikash Chandra of the Border Security Force (BSF).
"Wherever we have been able to fence
the area, the crime rate has decreased quite a bit."
In the wake of the attacks on Mumbai last
November, border security has become a hot political topic.
West Bengal is a long way from Mumbai, but
plenty of militants plotting to attack India have crossed this border in the
past. It is a vulnerable point.
"Militants are coming," Vikash Chandra
admits. "We have learnt that [militant] commanders consider this a safe
route. They fly from Karachi to Dhaka and from Dhaka they try to make the
crossing.
"We have to make it difficult for them."
It's a huge task. Fence or no fence, the border
has never been a barrier to trade - legal or otherwise. And so many people
live along its route that mingling with civilians isn't hard.
The border goes right through the middle of
the village of Panitar.
In one narrow lane the houses on the left
hand side are in India and the houses on the right are in Bangladesh.
Some kids brush a pile of straw away to reveal
a weathered stone that marks the actual dividing line.
Slum-dwellers
But the fence - which has to be at least 150
metres from the border itself - has limited Panitar's access to the rest of
the country.
"It's a big problem living here,"
says one of the Indian villagers, Mohammed Abdul Ghani Ghazi. "We waste
an hour or two going back and forth through the fence, and we're constantly
asked to produce identity papers by the BSF."
Just down the street in Bangladesh, Mohammed
Shaukat Ali Ghazi agrees that life has changed.
"We used to go there earlier to visit
the bazaars, or for an outing, now we can't," he says.
"Now the fence is there, nobody can go
across. Earlier bad people used to come and go all the time, now nobody can.
It's not possible."
But other sections of the border are still
far less secure, and many of them remain unfenced. The project is controversial,
and it's behind schedule.
An hour south of the border by train, on the
outskirts of Calcutta, a large community of slum-dwellers lives in small huts
by the side of the railway line.
They're cooking on open fires; their laundry
is laid out to dry on the stones between the tracks. And most of these people
are illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
It's impossible to say how many people have
crossed the border in search of work over the years. Some estimates are as
high as 20 million.
"Year after year we have people trickling
in," says Chandan Nandy, a writer on migration, as we watch a train speed
past.
"These people might have come 15 or 20
years back. Trying to identify suspected militant from migrant is impossible."
And how much difference does he think the
fence has made?
"Not much... but it has increased the
cost of migration. Migrants have to pay more to get in.
"The fence is a physical barrier, but
money does the talking and the border is a money-spinner. That keeps migration
going."
It's not just the Bangladesh border that is
a cause for concern, of course.
India's border with Nepal is an open one;
and the Line of Control in Kashmir is a place where Indian troops clash regularly
with armed militants trying to infiltrate.
"It will take some time before we can
say that we have secure borders," admits India's Minister for Home Affairs
P Chidambaram. "Given the constraints I think we are working as fast
as we can."
Back on the Ichamati river, a night patrol
is just beginning close to the point where the land border meets the water.
Out on the river, in the darkness, the idea
that anyone can fully secure this border seems rather far-fetched.
But this is one of the front lines, as India
scrambles to deter future acts of terrorism on its soil.
"We're better prepared than we were,"
says Mr Chidambaram. "But I'm not satisfied. We have to work harder."
