Bhutan: Fencing to check militancy along India border
Mihir Bhonsale
Bhutan’s porous border with India’s North-eastern state of Assam would be fenced in the coming months. Indian home ministry has decided to fence a small but vital 37-km stretch on the Assam-West Bengal border to stop anti-India militants from taking refuge in Bhutan.
The increase in the number of strikes by militants along the Indo-Bhutan border left New Delhi grappling with security concerns. While, knee-jerk reactions by India along the Myanmar and Bhutan borders are commonplace in the Indian strategy, a policy shift is needed to stress upon cooperative security.
Anti-India militancy
Security concerns have escalated due to the activities of militant outfits like National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Sangbjit), NDFB(S). In December, last year, the NDFB(S) struck in the Sonitpur district of Assam, killing 83 civillians. Indian security agencies have found NDFB(S), NSCN (K) and ULFA taking shelter in jungles along the 350-km odd, Assam-Bhutan border.
The growing of militancy with the nexus of NDFB(S) and NSCN (K) have carried out a number of strikes in 2015 including an attack on an SSB camp in August near Sonitpur in Assam. The Indian Army launched “Operation All Out” in September to flush out militants hiding in dense jungles of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
Successes in halting militancy have been fewer and far in between, for instance, the nabbing of Rabi Basumutary, army chief of NDFB(S) in September from Chirang district of Assam. Construction of border roads on the Indo-Bhutan border like those on Indo-Nepal border are still in the pre-feasibility stage and the fence serves as a contingency measure.
The SSB has also been asked to intensify intelligence operations to foil terror operations by militant outfits. Bhutan has time and again reiterated that, no anti-India activities would be allowed from its soil.
However, an incapacitated army and police force of the Himalayan kingdom have often affected militancy combing operations. There seem no end to New Delhi’s worries on the Bhutan border which has upped the ante against militants.
Security quagmire
India has been pushed into a security quagmire especially on the eastern frontier with niggling borders with Bhutan, Nepal, China and Myanmar. Tenuous borders with these nations have posed a serious threat to India’s national security.
Nepal and Bhutan have been conduit of illicit arms, narcotics and counterfeit currency. The rampant small arms smuggling from China and the former’s purported links to anti-India militant outfits, has upped New Delhi’s anxiety on her North-eastern frontier.
The militant attack on an Indian army camp in Manipur in June 2015, killing 18 security men, highlighted the porosity of the Indo-Myanmar border and vulnerability to strikes by militants operating on the Indo-Myanmar border.
India responded curtly by launching a combing operation inside Myanmar’s territory to dismantle rebel camps operating from within Myanmar.
Furthermore, Nepal’s grudges against India stands a chance of paving a gateway for Pakistan and China to India. Bhutan’s unsettled border with China at the Chumbi Valley tri-junction remains a concern from India’s security.
The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has remained India’s all weather friend. In 2003, Bhutan had launched Operation All Clear to flush out Bodo militants dismantling 30 militant camps in between December 2003 and January 2004 dismantling some 30 Indian rebel camps.
Royal Bhutan Army’s operation to flush out militants was India’s second such joint operation with a foreign country to fight militancy; the other two operations being with Myanmar. If New Delhi has to fight rebels operating from foreign soil it has to increase border cooperation with Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, China and Myanmar.
Security cooperation with India’s Eastern bloc would involve signing repatriation treaties, joint-border monitoring and sharing of intelligence among many other things. Such, cooperation would help establish peace and security in the region.
Fencing borders and military operations to flush out militancy could be a temporary solution, but in the long run militancy in the region bordering with India can be only found in the cooperative security framework involving equal participation of all stakeholder countries.
(The writer is a Research Assistant at Observer Research Foundation, Kolkata)
Bangladesh: Municipal elections and politics
Joyeeta Bhattacharjee
The recently-held municipal election in Bangladesh is a positive development as both Awami League and its rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) participated in it. Out of the 234 mayoral posts, Awami League won 179, while BNP got 23 and others 31 municipalities. Although both sides have expressed doubts about the fairness of the election, still it is welcoming. Considering the present development, the concern is whether will this mark a new chapter for Bangladesh’s politics?
The participation of the BNP in the election emerged as one of the major concern in Bangladesh politics. Especially, after the January 2014 parliamentary election in which the party declined to participate in questioning its impartiality. BNP’s withdrawal from the election left the country into an extraordinary situation, where virtually there is no opposition. For any democracy to succeed presence of opposition in parliament is necessary as policies are debated and formulated there.
Interestingly, instead of waiting for next election, BNP hosted three months long country wide blockade in early 2015 to drive the present Awami League out of power. During these three months, the country saw one of the most brutal political violence in its history that caused more than hundred lives. Economy in the country also suffered significantly due to marathon blockade. Such incidents weaken institutions and democracy. Participation of the political parties has established interest of both the political parties to strengthen democracy.
No comments:
Post a Comment