Another Operation Gone Sour

The Bangladeshi intrusion into a Meghalaya village and the subsequent clashbetween the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and India's Border Security Force (BSF)brought the north-east back into the headlines this week. Outlook'sNorth-east reporter Nitin A. Gokhale and photographer Swapan Nayak, were thefirst journalists to reach Pyrdiwah village and witness, first hand, theseige laid by BDR and the forcible eviction of the villagers.

Two days later Gokhale was among the first three reporters to be at the siteof the othertrouble spot - this time at Mankachar, along the Assam-Bangladesh border.Following is his diary of the eventful five days that brought the two friendlyneighbours to the brink.

Pyrdiwah Intrusion

Monday, April 16
Having reached the Meghalaya capital Shillong the previousevening, Swapan and I leave early morning for Dawki (130 km from Shillong),the town with the only facility in Meghalaya for legal trade withBangladesh. Accompanying us is our local contact John F. Kharshiing who'sspearheading the demand for regularization of the traditional barter bordermarkets that exist between Meghalaya and Bangladesh.

As we reach Pyrunsla, half way to Dawki, John is surrounded by the locals.They converse in Khasi, so I am clueless about the subject but clearly thepeople are agitated about something. John solves the puzzle. "There's sometrouble on the border. BDR (Bangladesh Rifles) seem to have attacked avillage," he says. My initial reaction is: "Oh no! There goes my story(about barter trade)." Next instant however my gut feeling says: This couldbe something big, so I immediately agree to go to the area. Two elderlymen-- village chiefs-- hop into our vehicle as we leave for the troublespot. They are certain that BDR has overrun the village. I am not sure whatto make of it.

An hour later, we are three kms. short of Dawki, when I see two BSF menhanging around. The village chiefs get down and talk to the villagerssitting at the corner. They point towards a dirt track, going downhill fromthe main road. John translates: "Villagers are fleeing the area. BDR hascaptured village Pyrdiwah." 

Let's go, I say, and we are off. 

Ten minuteslater, we see a horde of villagers sitting around in a group and anotherweighed down by their belongings walking in from the opposite end. We stopand enquire. John is the interpreter. Sawpan in the meantime has startedtaking pictures.

"BDR men told us to leave the village at mid-night after firing in theair.Terrified, we ran for our lives," Simal Khonjang, a mother of sevenchildrensays. "We could not bring anything with us. Now we are on the road withnowhere to go," she cries.

"Wasn't the BSF there?" I ask. "They took it so casually. We toldthem twice -- last on April 15 -- that the BDR men are moving about in the village but no onepaid any heed," said Arkhene Lamin, a beetel nut plantation owner. "Bythetime the BSF came in, we were already out."

Biang Talang, a newly married girl walks past with her belongings, cryingsilently. She has managed to salvage some pillows, a mat and a couple ofutensils. Others are not so lucky. Children are wailing, hungry andmiserable.

This is serious, a clear-cut intrusion into Indian territory, I say tomyself.Just as we contemplate our next move, two BSF Maruti Gypsys racepast us towards the border. We decide to follow. As we approach the border,villagers caution us not to venture too deep. We nevertheless locate avantage point. And the scene I see next perhaps sums up the whole mood onthe border. As we watch, three BSF men hesitantly approach a Bangla Army manin fatigues. About 50 metres behind the trio, jawans are in position withtheir guns ready. The trio stops, shouts something and then starts walkingagain, two of them putting their hands up. Eventually, they converge, talkand retreat to safety. Clearly, the BDR/Bangla Army held the whip hand here,I say to myself.

No one, either from the administration or from the BSF is around to help thevillagers till it's dark. We begin our return journey, John deciding to shakeeveryone up in Shillong. I try to contact BSF top brass. Neither the IGP northe DIG is in town. 

Tueday April 17
After yesterday's experience, we decide to check out another border marketpoint, Lymkhat. As we reach the village, John shows us around, indicatinghow the boundary cuts halfway through the village football field. "Theboundary delineation is unclear," John points out and says: "this istheroot cause of the trouble here."

There are, I am told, at least 40 border markets along the Meghalaya-Bangladesh border where people from both the countries exchange theirproduce under the age-old barter system. Today, a day after the Pyrdiwahincident, the market is strangely quiet. "No one is going to come from theother side because of the Pyrdiwah incident," says Commanding Khorsang, theSardar (chief) of Lymkhat.

Swapan is taking pictures when the BSF company commander, Balbir Singh walkstowards us. "No pictures of the boundary pillars please," he says. Iask himhow the situation is. "Very tense. But we are on full alert. We have beenpatrolling day and night," he explains. He is suspicious but refrains fromshooing us off. Instead, he offers a cup of tea. But it is getting late, sowe head back to Shillong and talk to BSF brass and state administrationofficials in Shillong.

On our way, we cross half-a-dozen BSF armour-plated vehicles going towardsDawki. Meghalaya Home Minister TH Rangad's convoy also crosses us. Will thisdevelop into a big-time skirmish, I wonder. No one is available in Shillong.I rush back to Guwahati. BSF and Centre are tight-lipped about the actualsituation.

Wednesday, April 18
John calls me early morning from Shillong. "Now I have to take many morejournalists down there today after they learnt you were already there." Iwish him luck and get down to putting the story in perspective.

By 6 p.m. everything changes again. 

First reports filter in from Dhaka about16 BSF jawans being killed in the Mankachar sector of the Assam-Bangladeshborder, almost 300 km west of Dawki. Mankachar town is also shelled. 

Isthere a connection between Prdiwah and Mankachar? 

But it's too late to do anything. So I sleep on it.

Mankchar Incident

Thursday, April 19
I call up Ajith (Ajith Pillai is Outlook Asstt Editor) at 6 a.m. to get the tripto Mankachar cleared. Theonly problem is, I have to make the 525 km return journey between Guwahatiand Mankachar in less than 20 hours since Friday morning is our deadline. Ileave at 8 a.m. with two other reporter friends. On the way, there isanother problem: Garo Hills, through which one has to travel to reachMankachar, is observing a bandh and the volunteers won't allow us to gothrough. Eventually, passes are issued to enable us safe passage.As we near Mankachar,. I speak to villagers and people in the town and askthem about the reported killing of 16 BSF men. "The whole thing has beenbrought upon us by the BSF's foolhardiness," say villagers. Who wouldconfirm this information? I locate a couple of police officials, who arehesitant to talk about it but when I promise that they won't be named, theyspill the beans.

But I need someone in BSF to react to this. At Mancachar, as we approach theBSF camp, all along the road, BSF men are digging up trenches. BSF's DIG JDSingh is the vicinity, we are told so we try to locate him. We meet him just300 metres from the border. "I have no statement to make. You speak to myIG,  V.K. Gaur, for any comment," he says. All that he is willing to confirm isthatintermittent firing is on.

At the Assam police border watch-post, we are told that the bodies of 16 menare lying inside Bangladesh, confirming my information. Clearly, the BSFjawans had ventured into Bangladesh and had died inside their territory.

It is already getting late, so we head back to Tura on our way to Guwahati.The driver is tired, so I drive for a while. We eventually reach at 3 a.m. 

Friday, April 20
I get up at 7 a.m and begin to put the story together. BSF IG VK Gaur has inthe meantime made a statement that his men were "murdered in cold bloodafter they were lured to the other side of the border." He says some men incivilian clothes asked a BSF patrol party to stop and "suddenly they weresurrounded by 1000 men who had been hiding behind bushes. They were draggedto the other side and handed over to the Army. One of the jawans escaped totell the story". 

"There was no firing, no encounter. They were killedincold blood," Gaur adds.

Question in my mind: When the entire border is fenced with proper entry andexit gate, how come the BSF jawans were stopped and lured by civiliansunless they had intruded into Bangladesh? No one is willing to answer as yeteven as I learn at 12.30 p.m. on Friday that the BSF Director GeneralGurbachan Singh Jagat is headed for Mankachar and the bodies of the deadjawans would be handed over later today.

Another operation gone sour, I say to myself as I get down to tie the looseends in the story.