Monday, April 3, 2006
An electrified fence! Someone should inform the PC(USA).
India fences off Bangladesh to keep out Muslim terror
Indian officials and western diplomats have been alarmed by an increase in terrorist attacks by militant groups linked to Al-Qaeda and by the Dhaka government’s failure to crack down on them.
One group said to have links with the government claimed responsibility for 500 synchronised explosions in 63 of Bangladesh’s 64 districts in August.
India’s cabinet has decided to speed up work on the 8ft security fence, which is intended to keep out terrorists and arms smugglers. The fence, which cuts a swathe through some of India’s densest rainforests, will be finished by the end of next year and patrolled by a border security force. Key stretches are being electrified...
So what's the problem? Bangladesh is becoming more devout.
Sabir Hossain Chowdhury, an opposition leader who was detained for three months after complaining about Islamic militants linked to the government, said Bangladesh was being subjected to a campaign of intimidation and the government was guilty of complicity. “Bangladesh is probably the only government in the world that includes a group which is committed to jihad and sharia,” he said.
The country was undergoing creeping “Islamicisation”, he added. “If you look at state TV, more presenters are wearing beards. On the radio they’re reciting more and more from the Koran. The most notable example is at Dhaka airport where signs are now in Arabic but no one speaks it.”...
A fence to keep me out...fear of Muslim terrorism...If I were Bangladeshi, I'd be feeling pretty humiliated right about now.
Hi Solomon,
I am a Bangladeshi and I am not humiliated because I don't read one side of a story to form an opinion.
You have linked to an article dated November 2005. Islamic Militancy was an issue which was curbed down by capture of the kingpins of the banned organization JMB.
Here is the latest - cover of the TIME magazine lauding Bangladesh's achievement in nailing the militants.
I am glad to inform you that Bangladesh is not going to be Afghanistan as Bangladesh was separated from Pakistan in 1971 to be a secular state and there are many people who will give their lives to uphold that commitment (only you have to take notice of them).
And India is not erecting the fence to deter militancy. The decision was taken long ago. Militancy issue is of last years.
If you look in other documents you will find that the fence are:
To check problems like like illegal immigration, smuggling, arms trafficking, drug trafficking and trafficking of women and children.
If you have any query regarding Bangladesh, please go to appropriate and updated sources. Thank You.
Wow. That was quick! Serves me right for a quick (doh! on the date) and snarky post -- I receive a reasoned and informative (and welcome) reply ...
Of course you understand my remark wasn't aimed at Bangladeshis so much as being a bit of sarcasm aimed at those who condemn fences (like Israel's and the one America should be building). Internet lesson: a real Bangladeshi stops by and...let's not say misses the point of the post, but improves upon it.
Thanks for the links. I will check them out.
Not so fast.
ISI now outsources terror to Bangladesh
March 21, 2006
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, leader of India's crucial neighbour Bangladesh, has arrived in New Delhi when both sides have a long list of concerns and a substantial deficit of trust. That things between the two nations are not all hunky-dory can be seen from the fact that since taking over in 2001, this is Zia's first visit to India.
2 blasts rock Varanasi; 20 dead
There are issues that bedevil ties between the two nations. For Bangladesh, the imbalance in trade and the sharing of waters as two major contentious issues, and the Indian side has a graver grouse regarding the use of Bangladesh territory by Pakistan's intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, for spreading terror in India.
Delhi police investigations reveal that since the last nine months, the ISI has changed its strategy by outsourcing terrorism to Bangladeshis and by motivating the "alienated sections of Muslim youth" in India.
Ahead of Zia's high profile visit to India, National Security Advisor M K Narayanan told a television channel that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will raise the issue of terrorism when both leaders meet. Bangladesh's radical Islamists are among India's major concerns, Narayanan said.
Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Hemayetuddin, who briefed the Indian media before his PM's arrival, insisted that Bangladesh was not complacent about India's concerns. "India should note that terrorists are on the run in Bangladesh, they are not able to hide. We have taken action against them. The arrest of Bangla Bhai recently was an important step towards it," he said.
lots more here
http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/mar/21spec.htm
Plus: Not all terrorists crossing into India from Bangladesh are Muslim. Several eastern Indian provinces have separatist movmentts that engage in terrorism, and that find refuge in Bangladesh. This includes Christian terrorists.
BSF faces up to Islamic terror from Bangladesh
Press Trust Of India / Kolkata/ Agartala April 01, 2006
BSF director general AK Mitra has said the border force is facing a major challenge from Islamic terrorists from Bangladesh who are using eastern India to operate in different countries of the region.
Mitra, making his first visit to the country's eastern frontiers after assuming office, told reporters here last night that Indian insurgents were also using Bangladeshi soil to conduct subversive activities in the country.
Asked to comment on observations by defence experts that Bangladesh is emerging as "an exporter of global terrorism", Mitra said "the Islamic terrorists from Bangladesh have chosen a route through eastern India to enter into different countries. Our force is facing a major challenge to contain the menace."
BSF director-general also said "the 4000-km long eastern border is porous. So we are alert and would increase strength of forces in the border and modernise it with sophisticated gadgets".
He, however, added that although the Bangladesh government has recently taken some initiative against the fundamentalists in their country, "we have to remain alert about them".
http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?storyflag=y&leftnm=lmnu2&leftindx=2&lselect=1&chklogin=N&autono=220817
Thanks Anna for your comment. Pakistan has been the source of Islami fundamentalist activities since long. ISI outsourcing terror is also a real worry for us the Bangladeshis. Unfortunately some quarters in Bangladesh namely the rightwing Islami parties like Jamaate Islami have good connection with the Pakistanis. We are trying to dealing with these quarters but this should be a thing to worry for India too. Bangladesh will never be an enemy, but those racial Pakistani fundis don't always have the right intensions against India.
I am also for the fence as it will stop the illegal trade between Bangladesh & India, twice as much the legal trade. You know Bangladesh is dependent on many of the Indian goods, the biggest is the cattle trade - 200 million Rupees. Bangladesh govt. is losing revenue from the illegal trade. The fencing will force traders to go through legal channel.
However all of these does not justify the report "India fences off Bangladesh to keep out Muslim terror" - It was mis-directed.
Except, of course, for the fact that India is building a security fence and except, of course, for the fact that most of mthe terrorists are Muslim.
But, yes, Banglasesh certainly has a right to control smuggling across its borders.
Just as India has a right to control the flow of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
I cannot honestly percieve why some Bangladesi quarters condemn or have a dislike for the fencing of the porous borders with India. After all, be honest-- When and where do you meet or see any vast influx or number of the 25% of muslims of West Bengal or Assam settled and living in the areas of Dacca/Jessore/Khulna/Sylhet/Chittagong etc.Virtually a rarity.
But you do see depleted Bengali Hindu population persecuted in Bangladesh(25% down to 10%) in appalling condition everywhere in Assam and West Bengal.
On the other hand on my recent visits to both
countries-- I was amazed to experience areas and villages of WB and Assam swamped by Bangladeshi muslim economic migrants and sudden erection of thousands of Madrasses inside the Indian border areas without any supervision.
I am a Bengali irrespective of east or west bengal
but I can understand India's stand on the matter of fencing since safeguarding a volatile situation persisting in Assam and growing fundamentalism mismanaged in Bangladesh are imperative.