Andrew Buncombe reports from Kaharpara on a
bloody war between rustlers and border guards
Even in the dog days of summer,
the quiet paddy fields that mark the border between India and Bangladesh look
as supple and green as the soft stems of herbs grown in a window box. But the
daytime tranquillity belies a stark reality. This delta region of the Ganges
river is a place of often deadly conflict that underpins an activity many in
India would rather not discuss. Every year, hundreds of thousands of cows –
considered sacred in India, with export of the beasts banned – are illegally
smuggled into Bangladesh where they are turned into shoes, belts, bone china
crockery and, of course, meat.
"There is smuggling here
every day," said Umesh, a member of a three-man Indian Border Security
Force (BSF) team on duty at a watchtower near the village of Kaharpara, just a
few hundred yards from the Bangladesh border. "The smugglers will take 50,
100 or 200 cattle at a time. We try to create an ambush and surround the
smugglers."
The story of the annual smuggling
of an estimated 1.5 million cattle says much about modern India – about the
sometimes hypocritical treatment of supposedly sacred cows, the political power
of right-wing Hinduism and the corruption that allows the £320m illegal trade
to flourish. But ultimately this story is about supply and demand.
Hindu-majority India has an estimated 280 million cows but killing and eating
them is legal in only a handful of states. Meanwhile, Muslim-majority
Bangladesh, where beef is eaten with relish, suffers from a shortage of cattle.
Half of the beef consumed in Bangladesh comes from its large, western
neighbour.
The snaking border that divides
the two countries runs for 1,300 miles. Here in the Murshidabad district of
West Bengal, 150 miles north-east of the state capital Calcutta, large sections
of it are unfenced. It is a lure both for human traffickers and gangs from both
sides of the border smuggling cows.
Villagers, who claimed not to
know any smugglers but appeared to know the intricacies of the operation, said
cattle were brought by truck from states across eastern India such as Bihar,
Orissa and Jharkhand. Some may even be brought from further away. Despite the
effort involved, the mathematics is persuasive. An animal that might sell for
£60-£80 in the country's cow-belt hinterland will here fetch £130. Once inside
Bangladesh, they could change hands for £225 or more.
"Those buying the cows
always look to see how fat it is. They feed them husks from the paddy,"
said Mohammed Ashraf, a blacksmith who was hammering into shape a glowing
curved sickle that locals use to cut the rice crop that is harvested three
times a year.
Yet the trade comes with a deadly
price. The BSF has been accused of killing hundreds of cattle smugglers, as
well as civilians not involved in the trade. A 2010 report published by Human
Rights Watch (HRW) suggested that more than 900 people had been killed with
impunity by the BSF over the past 10 years. It also said locals claimed some
BSF members were complicit with the smuggling and took bribes. This year, an
incident in which an alleged smuggler was badly beaten by the security force
personnel was captured on video.
"Over the last decade, they
used excessive and indiscriminate force, shooting at villagers on suspicion
that they were smugglers," said Meenakshi Ganguly, HRW's south Asia
director. "While many may have been engaged in cattle rustling, the BSF
ignored the most basic principles of protecting the right to life. Instead of
arresting suspects, they shot and killed them. The BSF claimed they had to use
lethal force as self-defence, an argument hard to believe since the police
reports on the weapons recovered usually [refer to] sickles and sticks."
Asked about the allegations, a
BSF spokesman said: "The BSF is a disciplined and professional force [and]
exercises utmost restraint in the use of any force. The BSF has also an
impeccable record of upholding human rights."
Ms Ganguly said that since
issuing its report, the BSF had started using rubber bullets which led to a
drop in fatalities. But, villagers said their evenings were still sometimes
disrupted. "We hear the gunshots at night-time. Sometimes the smugglers
get shot. It's mainly people from the other side of the border," said Mr
Ashraf. Locals said the smugglers often used teenagers to transport the cattle
across the border in the belief the security forces were less likely to shoot a
youngster.
There is a clear antagonism between
the guards and the villagers. Some locals said the BSF troops retaliated
against anyone they could find. Matir Rahaman, a rice farmer who was cycling
back from the fields, said he had been badly beaten by BSF personnel. "One
night the cows came over the border and the paddy got smashed. I went to the
BSF and said, 'Why is this happening'. They said, 'You are smugglers' and they
attacked us with [metal-tipped bamboo sticks]," he alleged.
Ashfaqur Rahman, a retired
Bangladesh diplomat who now chairs the Dhaka-based Centre for Foreign Affairs
Studies, said the matter was sensitive but that legalising the export of cows
or beef would put an end to corruption and violence. "There needs to be
wise counsel on both sides," he said.
An irony is that India is expected
to become the world's largest exporter of beef – from non-sacred buffaloes,
rather than cows – by next year. According to an estimate recently published by
the US Department of Agriculture, India is likely to export 1.5 million tons of
beef in 2012, a 25 per cent increase from last year. Its biggest markets are
south-east Asia, the Gulf and Africa.
Cows have been considered sacred
in India for centuries, and in only a few states is killing and eating them
legal. More recently, a movement by Dalits, or so-called untouchables,
demanding the right to eat cows has gathered pace. In 2004, Indian historian DN
Jha published the controversial The Myth of the Holy Cow, which argued that
during the period when a number of the most important Hindu religious texts were
produced, people in India ate cows.
Kancha Ilaiah, a Dalit activist
and a professor at Maulana Azad National Urdu University in Hyderabad, believes
Aryan invaders of Hindu promoted the (white) cow over the (black) buffalo.
"The buffalo predates the Aryans," he said.
There have been attempts by the
Indian authorities to review the ban on cow exports. Earlier this year, a
report by the government's central planning committee suggested changing the
law to allow the export of beef. The plan was hastily dropped and explained
away as a "clerical error" amid an angry backlash from right-wing
Hindu organisations such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and so-called "cow
protection" groups.
Among those who complained was
the UN-affiliated International Organisation for Animal Protection. The group's
India director, Naresh Kadyan, said: "It is the fundamental duty of
Indians that [everyone] should respect all animals. We strongly opposed the
lifting of the ban and the government made a U-turn," he said. "The
cow is a very important animal for Hindus."
Revered
and worshipped: Saintly beasts
Elephants
In Thailand, the elephant is
considered the national animal, and it is also revered in Burma, Cambodia and
Laos. Particularly
auspicious is the white elephant – not a distinct species but an albino or
elephant with particularly pale skin – which Buddha's mother is said to have
dreamt about before the birth of her son. The appearance of a white elephant in
the reign of a monarch or leader is meant to signify good fortune and power.
Cats
The ancient Egyptians took their
worship of animals to artistic heights with statues to honour their feline
gods, which frequently featured cats' heads on human bodies. Cats were prized for their useful
rat-catching abilities, and some argue they were first domesticated in the
region.
While cats are no longer
worshipped as gods in modern Egypt, they are certainly preferred as pets to
dogs, which are traditionally considered unclean in Islam.
Monkeys
Their association with the Hindu
faith – the monkey god, Hanuman, helped Lord Rama defeat the evil king Ravana –
has largely protected India's monkeys in the face of much annoyance at their
mischievous and sometimes aggressive ways. Delhi's tens of thousands of monkeys are a frequent
nuisance, stealing food, breaking into homes, and even attacking people. But
residents continue to feed them.
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