Opinion - News Analysis

Diplomacy, not rhetoric, will help

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI Feb. 7. Conducting business with neighbours at the best of times is not an easy task. There are contentious issues to address and perceptions built up over the years are difficult to change.

The Deputy Prime Minister, L. K. Advani, whose substantial charge is the Home Ministry, did not do any favour to the Indian foreign policy when he launched into a tirade against Bangladesh in Singapore. Asked to comment on the prevailing border tension between India and Bangladesh, Mr. Advani, who sounded as if he was speaking in Nagpur or Raipur rather than Singapore, said: "The matter should be based on truth. It cannot be based on total lies and untruth.''

"This mass of population is spread all over the country, including Delhi, Mumbai and other parts where there are colonies where only Bangladeshis live,'' PTI quoted Mr. Advani as saying on February 5. He also said: "This is a hard reality, but Bangladesh has all along denied that there is any illegal immigration. Though there is a school of opinion in Bangladesh that our country is too small and we need more land. But that is to try to justify and rationalise illegal immigration.''

There can be no quarrel that the illegal entry of Bangladeshi nationals is a problem. In fact, it is a huge problem. But it is not as if Dhaka is smuggling people into India; there are objective causes for the movement of these people.

Mr. Advani would be aware that the All-Assam Students Union (AASU), which the BJP backed enthusiastically, placed the issue of illegal immigration smack on the national agenda in the late 1970s and 1980s. Successive Governments, of the Congress and the BJP, at the Centre and in the State, have failed to take any steps to deal with the problem. Corrupt border guards have made the movement of people easier.

The abject failure of the Indian law and order machinery to deal with the issue over the decades is the real problem. If Bangladeshis are poor, so are the people they live with alongside in West Bengal and the northeast. Ethnic tensions, especially in Assam, have been exacerbated by the entry of Bangladeshi nationals.

The drama surrounding the 213 Bangladeshi "nationals,'' mainly snake-charmers, in the Cooch-Behar sector of the border has ended, but there is enormous scope for such incidents to recur. Finally, it would appear, diplomacy did the trick, not harsh words. Soon after the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, spoke to his Bangladeshi counterpart, M. Morshed Khan, the 213 persons did the vanishing trick.

Given the scope and the complexity of the issue, the problem will remain intractable if there is no cooperation from Dhaka. The accusations made against Bangladesh in public that it is a haven for Indian militants and a sanctuary for the al-Qaeda serve no purpose. India's concerns can only be addressed through dialogue, not confrontation. The problem of militants taking shelter in Bangladesh must be addressed through a continuous process of dialogue. Frustration will be part of the process, but it must not be allowed to end in counter-productive tirades.

Bangladesh needs to address Indian concerns but this will not happen if the Indian political leadership begins to shout from the rooftop.

A more difficult Government may be in power in Dhaka, but India has no choice but deal with Begum Khaleda Zia. India cannot afford to treat Bangladesh as if it were another Pakistan. Domestic considerations and perceptions about "infiltrators'' and "refugees'' cannot be allowed to ruin New Delhi's relations with Dhaka.

Mr. Khan has been invited to visit India by Mr. Sinha. One can only hope that the two arrive at a modus vivendi to deal with contentious issues.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu