Sunday, March 1, 2009

BDR mutiny and its meaning for India

The mutiny of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) is much more than it appears to be. During the rule of BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party) and its Islamist supporters, BDR was infiltrated by the Islamist and BNP sympathisers. It is well known that BNP is pro-Pakistan in its outlook and that the Islamist parties are even more so. After all, the Islamist leaders are those ‘razakars’ (volunteers) who cooperated with the Pakistani Army during 1971 to ‘protect the Islamic nation’. Their activities included actively supporting the Pakistan Army’s war efforts, massacring the Hindu minority and political enemies like Bangla nationalists (who stood for an independent Bangladesh). In the recent decade, there has been some friction between BDR and Indian Border Security Force (BSF). A few years ago, several BSF personnel were killed by BDR supported Bangladeshi mob. The infiltration of Islamists into BDR will further complicate the problems. This is a very dangerous situation for India. We must also keep in mind that ULFA has its bases in Bangladesh and it is highly suspected that ULFA infiltrations into Indian territories are actively helped by BDR. Hence, the current news about Islamist infiltration into BDR is very grave news for India. It shows that Jihadi elements of BDR will be used in anti-India activities more frequently and efficiently.

The reason given for this mutiny was that the personnel were paid very less. But the said mutiny occurred only after Ms. Sheikh Hasina addressed to BDR that she expects them to curtail the various smuggling and human trafficking activities which happen with BDR’s blessings. If Ms. Hasina’s orders are strictly implemented, many problems of India regarding the Indo-Bangladesh border’s security stand solved. This is unacceptable to Pakistan. As such, there is every reason to suspect that pro-Pakistan elements are involved in this mutiny. It is very fortunate that the mutiny has been quickly put down.

In the long term, this will prove to be a huge problem for India. Pakistan is gaining more allies in Bangladesh. It will try to exploit the porous Indo-Bangladesh border. After all, due to vote-bank politics, our political parties are allowing free passing rights for illegal Bangladeshi immigrants to enter and settle in India. The anti-national activities of Bangladeshi immigrants in Assam was seen towards the end of 2008 when they hoisted Pakistani flags and killed more than 100 non-Muslims (mostly Hindus) in organised riots. Of course, our media and political parties do not care about this riot very much because the victims are Hindus. It is the height of hypocrisy that even in the case of reporting riot victims, only minority victims are given publicity (e.g. the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat – around 800 Muslims and 250 Hindus died in those riots but both media and the ‘secular’ political parties shed tears only for the Muslim victims. Somehow, Hindu victims appear ‘non-human’ for these entities.).

What must be kept in mind is the fact that India was established as a Hindu-majority state. Muslim majority areas were formed into Pakistan while Hindu-majority areas were formed into India. Hence, the basic character of this nation is a ‘Hindu-majority nation’. Islamic nations (esp. Pakistan and Islamists of Bangladesh) look at India as a ‘Hindu nation’ and hence, ‘Dar-ul Harb’ (land of war). As such, the rise of anti-Hindu Islamists in Bangladesh will turn into anti-India movement in the future. India must handle this situation with utmost urgency and caution. Else, we might lose another important neighbour in South Asia. We have already lost the beautiful relationships we had with Sri Lanka and Nepal. China and Pakistan are gaining over our trusted neighbours. If we lose Bangladesh as well, we will be facing a bleak future. Currently, we are surrounded by a powerful enemy (China) and a terrorist haven (Pakistan). If we lose our neighbours to these two nations, it will mark the end of any chance for a peaceful existence of India.

Let the government wake up to the realities and work out a ‘logical’ solution. Bangladeshi infiltration has to be stopped. Also, the Indo-Bangladesh border has to made completely ‘non-porous’. Finally, India must cooperate with the current Bangladeshi government in cracking down on the terrorist activities and organisations which are using Bangladesh as their launch pad for attacking India and also, converting Bangladesh into an Islamic republic.

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