Indo-Bangla border in Karimganj only in name

GUWAHATI, August 30: For centuries, people living on either side of the Indo-Bangladesh border have been governed by the same rulers. They have also shared a common culture, language and tradition. Fiftytwo years after partition, the artificial frontier barriers have kept the people on either side united by a common bond. The Indo-Bangla border in the Karimganj district of the Barak Valley is a border only in name because there is little that prevents people from both sides from interacting with each other. Barbed wire fences, border sentries, check gates et al have failed to curb the people's natural instincts to reach out to their kith and kin across the border. The 42-km land frontier in Karimganj district has been fenced except for a few stretches. The riverine boundary is supposedly patrolled by Border Security Force (BSF) personnel 'round the clock'. For residents on either side of the border, however, crossing the international boundary is a matter of daily routine. Every morning, Karimganj town, the nerve centre of the district, is flooded with casual labour seeking work, rickshawpullers seeking passengers, beggars seeking alms and patients seeking treatment. It is known to all that these people have all come over from Bangladesh. Come evening, most of them go back home. There are some, however, who never go back to their country but press on deep into Indian territory looking to settle down.