India, Bangla Urged To Open Up Borders
Politicians and academics from India and Bangladesh have said the two nations can overcome the chronic political and economic troubles of South Asia's poorest sub-region by opening up their closed borders and closed minds.
Speakers at the `Dialogue on interactions with Indian border states' pointed out that barbed wire fences and walls were not the way to stop illegal immigration. They called for shedding the baggage (of distrust and suspicion) of the past which was blocking economic cooperation between Bangladesh, India's north-eastern states, Bhutan and Nepal.
The two-day dialogue, organised by the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies, was opened by Bangladesh finance minister Shah A M S Kibria who said the historic river water sharing pact between New Delhi and Dhaka in December had generated great enthusiasm for such cooperation among other border countries.
A former executive director of the Economic and Social Council for Asia and the Pacific (Escap), Kibria pointed out that the UN development body was also backing regional cooperation in different areas, including building a trans-Asian highway and the Asian railway.
Bangladesh minister for foreign affairs Ahsan Chowdhury said sub-regional economic cooperation was in no way against the spirit of wider South Asian cooperation as embodied in the Saarc charter.
Non-governmental groups at the meeting said opening up the borders would put an end to the illicit trade which was depriving the countries of customs revenue.
Bangladeshi economist and media columnist Kabir U Ahmed opposed sub-regional cooperation because Bangladesh had little to gain by depending on the slow growing sub-regional market. Another speaker argued against sub-regional cooperation if it diminished the sovereign status of one country.
Identifying the obstacles to sub-regional cooperation, an academic from Dhaka University singled out China which was blamed for supporting insurgency in India's north-eastern region. He suggested a way out by including China in the sub-regional grouping.
Paula Banerjee from the Calcutta University said `bi-national institutions' were needed to further such (sub-regional) cooperation.
Bi-national groups could cut across unwarranted apprehensions that characterise South Asian politics and explore issues like transit facilities which were essential in terms of economic interest of both countries, she said.
Suspicion makes it problematic to grant transit facilities through Bangladesh territory or from the port of Chittagong to the north-eastern states of India, she explained.
Sanjoy Hazarika of New Delhi's Centre for Policy Research said it was important to recognise that migrants were being accepted and absorbed. The trouble begins when the absorbing capacity of a society has been reached as in the case of Assam.
Bangladeshi journalist Afsan Chowdhury said people migrate mainly due to lack of economic opportunities. Most Bangladeshis and Indians who have migrated to developed nations like US and Canada were actually economic refugees, he said.