Border management and post - 9/11 state security concerns: implications for the Bangladesh-India border

Abstract

The history of Bangladesh-India border started with the partition in 1947. Bangladesh has inherited the whole India-East Pakistan border as well as the disputes and unresolved issues following her independence on 16 December, 1971. In the pre-9/11 period, organised crime, such as human trafficking, arms trade and illegal trade were major threats for Bangladesh-India border, while terrorism received the highest security concern after the events of 9/11. Visibly, the US has taken the lead in defining terrorism as the utmost threat and shaping security measures in response to the 9/11 attacks. Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, there is a trend linking the existing 'war on crime' with post-9/11 security concerns. Therefore, there is a gradual merging of societal and state security in response to transnational threats. Similarly, the 9/11 events may also be read as an opportunity to some that gave some already existing ideas, policies and technologies their chance. Besides, the high technology surveillance is not a post-9/11 invention, rather the attacks brought to the surface a number of surveillance trends that had been developing quietly and unnoticed for the previous decade and earlier. Following the US model, all the South Asian states have declared terrorism as their utmost adversary in all regional forums. Hence, they are approving a range of different agreements or safeguard measures. Therefore, a US branded 'risk perception' and 'focus on terrorism' have been transmitted to South Asia. This thesis argues post-9/11 discourses and policies towards Bangladesh- India border, in most cases, are also pushed by different anti-terrorism measures linking existing terrorist concerns with the new threat from Al-Qaeda. In other words, we can explain that 9/11 provided the context for the governments to implement some tough surveillance measures which they had failed to achieve previously. In all of the instances, none of the initiatives are completely new, but are rather a reinforcement of the previously existing surveillance systems. On the contrary, little attention has so far been paid to the resolution of decade's old border disputes and issues. It appears as though the nature of old problems is forgotten while integrating new threats.