Need to mend fences with neighbours

28 Aug, 2001    ·   558

Wg Cdr NK Pant highlights progress and continuing concerns on managing border problems with our neighbours
Wg.Cdr. NK Pant (Retd.)
India , perhaps, is the only country in the world that inherited from its colonial history, unsettled borders with all its neighbours. While the feud with China and Pakistan is enormously complicated and has defied solution due to their intransigent attitude, the issue with Bangladesh could be settled without major hassles, given the necessary political will. In addition, India has minor differences with Nepal and Myanmar . Even with Sri Lanka , which is separated by the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Strait , India was embroiled over the issue of territorial rights on the small island of Kacchativu in the past.   

 

 

The row with Bangladesh in mid-April 2001 is a reminder of New Delhi ’s procrastination in demarcating its international boundaries with a friendly neighbour. The responsibility for delineating the borders vests with the MEA, whilst the Border Security Force (BSF) is charged with guarding them. Had the boundary demarcation issue between the two countries been resolved in terms of the Indira-Mujib Accord of 1974, the fracas between the BSF and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) would have been avoided. Only 6.1 km of the roughly 4000 km India-Bangladesh border is undemarcated; what complicates the issue is the existence of 111 Indian enclaves within Bangladesh , and 51 Bangladeshi enclaves within Indian territory . 

 

 

Our western neighbour, Pakistan , has made the problem complicated and highly explosive. Islamabad ’s two-nation theory does not recognise the Muslim majority Kashmir ’s accession to India and wants to capture it by force.  Another stretch of disputed territory with Pakistan falls in the Sir Creek, which is an approximately 100 kilometre-long stream in the marshes of the Rann of Kutch separating the state of Gujarat from the Pakistani province of Sindh . The dispute first arose in the early years of the twentieth century between the princely state of Kutch and Sindh, then part of British India . The award of 1914, given by the British rulers, had the rationale of having the mid stream point as the dividing line. But, the map prepared at that time had depicted a green line straying to the eastern part of the disputed creek. This has been interpreted by Islamabad as implying that the entire crack becomes part of Pakistan .

 

 

In the mid 1950s, India discovered the Chinese constructing a strategic road linking Tibet with Xinjiang across the Indian territory of Aksai Chin. Jawaharlal Nehru initially ignored the issue, describing it as a useless piece of land where not even a blade of grass grows. The Chinese were overtly proclaiming their friendship with India in the ‘Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai’ era, whilst covertly making inroads into Indian territory . As the dragon’s belligerence increased, India toughened its stand by setting up forward border posts that further incensed the Peoples’ Republic. In 1962, the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) humiliated India by launching its military offensive simultaneously into Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh. Though a Border Peace and Tranquility Agreement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was signed between the two countries in 1993 and joint working groups (JWG) have been meeting regularly, there has been hardly any progress in settling the border issue. So far only the border maps of the central sector have been exchanged. In fact, it suits the wily Chinese to continue with the status quo on the border question, whereas it seriously affects Indian security interests.

 

 

India does not have any major misunderstanding on the international borders with Nepal and Myanmar . While India has an open border with Nepal with free movement of people both ways, the friendly ties with Myanmar have resulted in better border management. With Bhutan , the boundary is defined, though the use of Bhutanese territory by ULFA and Bodo terrorists has caused some irritation.

 

 

It is imperative that determined efforts are made to solve the border disputes with our  neighbouring countries  in the interests of peace, security and economic development, apart    from establishing friendly relations.  Hence, greater efforts must be made to delineate the remaining portion of the boundary with Bangladesh .  In the case of China , India will have to assert itself and negotiate from a position of strength. The Chinese only understand the language of strength, and this should be kept in mind while conducting further negotiations with them. In the case of Pakistan , world opinion has veered around towards conversion of the LoC into an international border.  There is no alternative before Pakistan but to end its obsession with Kashmir and transform the LoC into an international border, which must form the principal agenda for the next round of Vajpayee-Musharraf talks. 

 

 

 

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