Revisiting 2001 Bangladesh India Clashes, 1947 Sylhet Referendum, and 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War

 

Recently after the coup orchestrated by USA in Bangladesh and setting up of a puppet government under Mohammed Yunus, who incidentally is a Nobel Prize winner, things have been hotting up between India and Bangladesh. After the supposed targeted persecution of deposed ruling party members, Awami League after PM Sheikh Hasina Wajed fled the country and took refuge in New Delhi, India; the subsequent violence against minorities like Hindus, Christians and Buddhists has raised eyebrows in all circles across India. 

This coup was building up since last 1 year, but it’s surprising to even comprehend that how did India’s RAW, its external intelligence wing missed it completely and was clueless. The situation in Bangladesh, which is surrounded on 3 sides by India has been compounded by increasingly belligerent outbursts by people against India. Some are saying Bangladesh needs to capture lot of areas of India, including Assam, West Bengal, Tripura, Meghalaya to create greater Bangladesh. Some gave rhetorical statements claiming to capture Kolkata in 2 days. 

Surprising that despite India issuing official protest such statements are still continuing. More important Bangladesh is taking steps that were unthinkable few months back that are set to antagonize India and Indians. Bangladesh plans on buying Chinese fighter jets, has released a dreaded ULFA terrorist, looking for rapprochement with Pakistan by inviting Pakistan Army for exercise after 1971 for the first time. This has forced Indians to take some drastic steps like hospitals in Tripura and Kolkata are refusing to treat Bangladeshi patient (its inhuman), Indian traders are refusing to do business with Bangladeshi traders (its idiotic as this pushes them towards China). All this seems to be result of systematic missteps taken by India with regards to Bangladesh.

2001 Bangladesh–India Border Clashes 

The 2001 Bangladesh–India Border Clashes were a series of armed skirmishes between India and Bangladesh in April 2001. The clashes took place between troops of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) on the poorly-marked international border. They began on 16 April 2001, when around 800 to 1000 Bangladeshi Paramilitary soldiers attacked and captured Padua/Pyrdiwah village, breaking the status quo, forcing villagers to flee. Bangladesh claimed this village was actually illegally occupied by India, since Bangladesh's War of Independence in 1971. The Indian Border Security Force (BSF) post in Padua/Pyrdiwah village was encircled, trapping 31 BSF troops within. However, both sides held their fire and began negotiations. Over the course of the following days, about three BSF companies proceeded to reinforce the outpost. This incident was resolved later without any bloodshed.

Following this, Indian BSF paramilitary troops along the Bangladesh–India border was put on high alert and ordered to begin intensive patrolling. A few days later, a small contingent of 300 BSF troops entered Bangladeshi territory near the village of Boraibari, about 200 km to the west of Padua/Pyrdiwah, as "counter-attack" to retaliate after Padua incident. Immediately the Indian BSF paramilitary company were ambushed by Bangladeshi border guards and the attack on BDR outposts were repulsed, who were assisted by local villagers. Following their capture, the mutilated bodies of the Indian soldiers were returned to India on 20 April. Clashes finally ended on 21 April 2001, after both sides agreed to a ceasefire. The clashes left a total of 21 people dead, including 16 Indian soldiers and three Bangladeshi border guards.

The clashes were a major setback to relations between India and Bangladesh. who had signed a number of agreements including the 2015 Land Boundary Agreement which served an important role in advancing the exchange of 111 enclaves (17,160.63 acres) from India to Bangladesh and reciprocatively, the latter transferred 51 enclaves (7,110.02 acres) to India. This was result of Partition of Bengal in 1947 that left a poorly demarcated international border between India and Bangladesh/East Pakistan. Ownership of several villages on both sides of border were disputed. The dispute over the demarcation of border worsened due to the existence of over 190 enclaves.

The village of Padua/Pyrdiwah, one of the Indian exclaves on the border between Bangladesh and Meghalaya, was used by Indian security forces during 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War to train the Mukti Bahini. Later Bangladesh staked its claim to the area in which India's Border Security Force (BSF) had established a post in since 1971. Padua village where people are ethnic Khasis is an adverse possession, a village inhabited by Indians that is legally owned by Bangladesh (until the border agreement is ratified and the populations exchanged. The clashes here were the worst since 1971. Although status quo was maintained, around 6.5 km (4.0 mi) of the border was disputed for 30 years.

Next Indian forces launched an early-morning attack on in the frontier district of Kurigram, which lies on the border with the Indian state of Assam. Almost immediately 16 Indian paramilitary personnel were ambushed and killed by Bangladeshi border guards, who were assisted by hundreds of villagers. Around midnight, the Foreign Secretary of India, Chokila Iyer, and her Bangladeshi counterpart, Syed Muazzem Ali, discussed to restore the status quo as well as for an immediate Bangladeshi withdrawal from Padua. The Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) withdrew from Padua by the night of 19 April. After the Boroibari intrusion on 18 April, India alleged BDR was firing 3-inch and 8-inch mortar shells on Mankachar village, another disputed Indian enclave.

After both governments intervened in the situation, the Bangladeshis and Indians returned to their original positions and restored the previous status quo. Fresh clashes erupted, but by midnight on 20 April, cross-border firing stopped. Bangladesh later agreed to return the bodies of 16 Indian soldiers the next day. Upon examining the bodies of the dead personnel, India accused Bangladeshi Armed Forces of subjecting the captives to severe torture before they were shot dead. Observers termed the incident as a political ploy to rouse nationalistic passions before the Bangladeshi elections and malicious adventurism by BDR. The Government of Bangladesh denied allegations that it had supported the BDR's initialization of hostilities and termed the incident as the "adventurism of its local commanders". Later Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina and Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee engaged in telephonic discussions to exercise restraint in the future.

India and Bangladesh initiated talks to resolve their border disputes in March 2002. The end of the brief conflict saw an upsurge of nationalism in Bangladesh. However, both sides desisted from any further hostilities and began border talks to discuss disputes along their 4,000 km (2,500 mi) border. Accordingly, the deal was signed to exchange the enclaves. India and Bangladesh formally exchanged 162 enclaves on August 1, 2015, ending territorial anomaly and completing a process of land and population exchange that began in the 1950s. India has since then initiated the construction of a barrier along the entire length of its international border with Bangladesh, and is still in the process of constructing it. Bangladesh protested the construction of the barrier, claiming that the construction of a fence within 150 yards of the international border was a gross violation of the Indo-Bangladeshi Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Peace.

1947 Sylhet Referendum

The 1947 Sylhet referendum was held in Sylhet District of Assam Province of British India to decide whether the district would remain in undivided Assam and therefore within India, or leave Assam to join the newly created Dominion of Pakistan. The referendum's turnout was in favour of joining the Pakistani union; however, the district's Karimganj subdivision remained within the Indian state of Assam. Note, prior to the British arrival in the region in late 18th century, the Sylhet was a part of the Bengal Subah of the Mughal Empire. Initially, the Company Raj incorporated Sylhet into its Bengal Presidency. However, 109 years later on 16 February 1874, Sylhet was made a part of the non-regulation Chief Commissioner's Province of Assam (North-East Frontier) in order to facilitate Assam's commercial development.

This transfer was implemented despite a memorandum of protests being submitted to the Viceroy Lord Northbrook, on 10 August from Sylhet population which consisted of both Hindus and Muslims. These protests subsided when Northbrook visited Sylhet to reassure the people that education and justice would be administered from the city of Calcutta in Bengal, as well as Hindu zamindars of Sylhet realized the opportunity of employment in Assam's tea estates and a market for their produce. Note that after the first partition of Bengal in 1905, Sylhet was briefly reincorporated with Eastern Bengal and Assam, as a part of the new province's Surma Valley and Hill Districts division. However, this reorganization was short-lived as Sylhet once again became separated from Bengal in 1912, when Assam Province was reconstituted into a Chief Commissioner's Province.

By the 1920s, organisations such as the Sylhet Peoples' Association and Sylhet–Bengal Reunion League mobilized public opinion, demanding Sylhet's reincorporation into Bengal. However, the leaders of the Reunion League, including Muhammad Bakht Mauzumdar and Syed Abdul Majid, who were also involved in Assam's tea trade, later opposed the transfer of Sylhet and Cachar to Bengal in September 1928 during the Surma Valley Muslim Conference; supported by Abdul Majid's Anjuman-e-Islamia and Muslim Students Association. Partition of India was to happen along religious lines in August 1947. So all Muslim-majority areas were to be combined to form the new Pakistan while Non-Muslim and Hindu-majority areas would remain in India. Sylhet was a Muslim-majority Sylheti-speaking district in Assam, which was a Hindu-majority Assamese-speaking province.

The Government of Assam believed that removing Sylhet would make the state more homogeneous and strongly unified as a result. Then Assam's Chief Minister, Gopinath Bordoloi, stated in 1946 that his wish was to "hand over Sylhet to East Bengal". The British declared on 3 July 1947 that a referendum would be held on 6 July 1947 to decide the future of Sylhet. H. C. Stock was appointed as the commissioner of the referendum. Brigadier Mohinder Singh Chopra was in command of the "SYL Force" (Sylhet Force) to keep the referendum peaceful. Result of referendum was that majority of the population voted in favour of joining Pakistan.

This decision was implemented via Article 3 of the Indian Independence Act of 18 July 1947. The Radcliffe Line published on 17 August 1947 gave some areas of Sylhet such as Karimganj to India, while the rest of Sylhet joined East Bengal. Even though Karimganj had a Muslim-majority population, unlike some other areas in Sylhet like Moulvibazar. India received three and a half thanas of Sylhet. Along with Karimganj, Zakiganj was also to be a part of independent India, but this was prevented by a delegation led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Thus, most of the Sylhet District joined East Pakistan, which later emerged as the new country of Bangladesh in 1971 following the Bangladesh War of Independence. The result of the referendum was largely welcomed by the local Assamese population.

1971 Bangladesh Liberation War

1971 Bangladesh Liberation War (মুক্তিযুদ্ধ), also known as Bangladesh War of Independence, was an armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in Eastern Pakistan, which was brutally supressed by Western Pakistan forces. This suppression under ‘Operation Searchlight’ ultimately resulted in the intervention by Indian Army and finally leading to the independence of Bangladesh after a 13-day war. The war began when the Pakistani military junta based in West Pakistan under the orders of Yahya Khan, launched Operation Searchlight against East Pakistanis on the night of 25 March 1971, initiating the Bangladesh genocide.

In response to the violence, members of the Mukti Bahini, a guerrilla resistance movement formed by Bengali military, paramilitary and civilians; who launched a mass guerrilla war against the Pakistani military, liberating numerous towns and cities in the months before the actual war in December 1971. At first, the Pakistan Army regained momentum during the monsoon, but Bengali guerrillas counterattacked by carrying out widespread sabotage, through Operation Jackpot against the Pakistan Navy, while the nascent Bangladesh Air Force flew sorties against Pakistani military bases.

India joined the war on 3 December 1971, after Pakistan launched pre-emptive air strikes on air bases across northern India. The subsequent Indo-Pakistani War involved fighting on two fronts; with air supremacy achieved in the eastern theatre and the rapid advance of the Allied Forces of Mukti Bahini and the Indian military. This resulted in Pakistani surrendered in Dhaka on 16 December 1971, in what remains to date the largest surrender of armed personnel since the Second World War. It was orchestrated by JFR Jacob who changed the ceasefire under UN mandate into ‘General Surrender’ by 93000 Pakistani troops.

During the war, rural and urban areas across East Pakistan saw extensive military operations and air strikes to suppress the tide of civil disobedience that was a result of the stalemate after the 1970 election, when leadership in Western Pakistan refused to accept the resounding mandate in favor of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The Pakistan Army, backed by Islamists, created radical religious militias like the Razakars, Al-Badr and Al-Shams; to assist it during raids on the local populace. Members of the Pakistani military and supporting militias engaged in mass murder, deportation and genocidal rape, pursuing a systematic campaign of annihilation against nationalist Bengali civilians, students, intelligentsia, religious minorities and armed personnel. The capital, Dhaka, was the scene of numerous massacres, including the Dhaka University massacre. Sectarian violence also broke out between Muslim/Hindu Bengalis and predominantly Urdu-speaking Muslim Biharis. An estimated 10 million Bengali refugees fled to neighbouring India, while 30 million were internally displaced.

The war changed the geopolitical landscape of South Asia, with the emergence of Bangladesh as the world's seventh-most populous country. Due to complex regional alliances, the war was a major episode in Cold War tensions involving the United States, the Soviet Union and China. The majority of member states in the United Nations recognised Bangladesh as a sovereign nation in 1972. India on its part not only humanely treated the POWs but ensured their safety and under 1972 Shimla Accord sent them back to Pakistan without extracting much price. Although initially it looked like a major strategic victory for India but ultimately it turned out to be only tactical victory.

Simply because India didn’t gain anything on the western front except a couple of villages, and didn’t even try to redraw the borders on the eastern front to secure the Siliguri corridor or take back the Sylhet District that had joined East Pakistan after a referendum in 1947. As per strategic viewpoint India should have taken back the Sylhet District, as well as merge Rangpur District and western portions of Rajshahi district into India to secure the Chickens Neck. India’s lack of strategic thinking has cost us lot of chances gone begging. Just hope Bangladesh in its eagerness to develop the newfound friendship with Pakistan and USA doesn’t indulge in a misadventure against India. If it does, then India must teach Bangladesh a harsh lesson that it remembers forever by capturing Sylhet, Rangpur and western Rajshahi.