While the Indian (UPA) Government has taken some major initiatives with regard to increasing connectivity between the country's border provinces and its neighbouring countries, especially Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan, still it would be fair to say that that some crucial impediments prevent freer exchange of goods and services between these regions.
In the case of Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) with Pakistan, it is clearly the unimaginative visa regime which is acting as a major hindrance to substantive people to people contact. Even goodwill gestures aimed at promoting tourism between the Kashmirs and Punjabs have ended up in becoming mere dampeners. While it is well known that people from both provinces are keen to travel across the border, they are prevented from doing so because of tedious visa procedures. Even goodwill gestures like a visa-free pilgrimage for Sikh pilgrims from India and other parts of the world from Dera Baba Nanak (Indian Punjab) to Darbar Sahib (Kartarpur, Pakistani Punjab) have not taken off.
This proposed project dubbed as the 'Kartarpur Corridor' has been spoken about and lobbied for not only by politicians from the Indian Punjab and organizations based in the US, such as the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy (IMTD), but the corridor still remains a distant dream, presumably because of security considerations. This is despite the fact that numerous surveys, carried out by the Indian government, have revealed that the project does not present any major security threat, as there is a massive barbed wire and the Indian side is manned by the Border Security Force (BSF).
Unfortunately, in the realm of trade as well, while lofty promises have been made, most of them remain unfulfilled. In this area, one of the major impediments to smooth cross border trade in the East and West is the poor infrastructure. There is no better illustration of this fact than the strike by the traders in Akhaura, Tripura, few weeks back, protesting against the poor infrastructure of the integrated check-post at Akhaura, which has made it virtually impossible to trade. This check-post was inaugurated by Home Minister P Chidambaram in June 2011 with lots of fanfare, promising the construction in 18 months. The irony is that this is happening when the state government is going all out to develop a cordial relationship with Bangladesh. The Tripura University just conferred an honorary doctorate on Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during her maiden visit to the State.
Similarly, while there is much hype about India's improved relationship with Myanmar and connecting the North-East to the latter, the infrastructure at Moreh (Manipur), the main trading point, is not only sub-standard, but even the rules of trade between the two countries is needlessly restrictive, encouraging illegal trade.
It is worth mentioning here that after a visit to Nathu-la Pass in 2007, Defence Minister A.K. Antony, while comparing the infrastructure on the Indian side and the Chinese side, was quick to state that "it is an eye opener for me. There is no comparison between the two sides. Infrastructure on the Chinese side is far far superior. They have gone far in developing their infrastructure".
While strategic analysts like C Raja Mohan and eminent diplomats like former foreign secretary Shyam Saran have repeatedly stated that India needs to change its mentality of treating borders as 'zone of conflict' and 'outposts', the results on the ground are not so promising.
It is time that earnest efforts are made to fulfill the dream of Dr. Manmohan Singh of making borders between India and her neighbours irrelevant. A good way could be periodic appraisal of the infrastructure at borders and holding periodical meetings of border States from East, West and South, seeking their inputs on India's neighborhood policy, apart from giving an ear to the problems they face with regard to cross-border trade and people-to-people contact.
Till border regions are properly developed and connected with other countries and border States are not made crucial stake holders in India's foreign policies, Dr Singh's dream will seem utopian and the country's border provinces will remain 'irrelevant'.
(Tridivesh Singh Maini is an Associate Fellow at Observer Research Foundation)
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