[Reader-list] Detained in India, arrested in Bangladesh

[anupam chakravartty]

Dear Rajen,

Thanks to the professional mercernaries like Shahidul Alam the border areas
and the issues associated with them are coming in the public. Else BDR and
BSF would have turned them into minefields and battle zones. Instead of
knowing how people have been living on the either side of border have the
same variety of paddy growing, when the river swells in the monsoons,
how floods enter their houses, you worried about spying and also how the
illegal immigration happens under the so called watchful eyes of the
security agencies in that area. the fact that this photographer has been
candid about what he had shot makes his intention very clear. on second
thoughts, what do u think about the embedded journalists who went to Iraq?

second, Alam clearly mentions:  "The gate itself, I’m trying to remember
now, large black gates, double gates, about ten feet tall, 20 feet wide, I
think. But the fence, the barbed wire extends above that, [what, it extends
above the gate?] well, not above the gate itself, but it’s higher than the
gate, stretching on* both sides*, as far as the eye can see." Both sides
means that he is talking about the Indian as well Bangladeshi side. If he
were to be spying for Bangladesh, that this info is completely irrelevant.
If he is spying for British as he said it to BSF guys, then this piece of
information is quite well known that double gates have barbed wires running
over it across world borders in several states. Thanks to ignorance of the
interviewer all the border areas starting from Tripura (where they have
fences, to Chittagong hill tract and areas near Dhubri district in Assam in
India have barbed wires running above ten feet tall, 20 feet wide).

third, the pictures became an incriminating evidence after he realised that
he was on the other side of the border, where he as per law was not supposed
although he said (since you decided to cite only a certain part of the
interview leaving aside an important point): * You mean there were no border
signposts. No, there was absolutely no sign mentioning territory, or that we
were crossing into restricted zone, whether it was no man’s land or anything
else. These were paddy fields we were walking across. When I got onto this
dirt track, there was still no sign. One could see there was the Indian
border far away, one could certainly see the fence.*
**
However, as you say, on many occasions journalists have been spies too.
spies for governments, spies for terrorists, mediator for criminals,
mediator for smugglers (such as veerapan), journalists who act like
mouthpiece of police, etc etc, but mostly these people are journalists, in
process of documenting truths.

-thanks anupam


On 6/23/09, Rajendra Bhat Uppinangadi <rajen786uppinangady at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Dear all,
>
>    is it free for all if one is a photo journalist, can he not be a
> "professional" mercenary who has specific profession of being spying for
> his
> adopted nations, ? It is not rare nor strange when professional
> "journalists"  have been on spying missions in north Korea, Russia or in US
> and Uk or host of other nations.
>
> Some narrations are indicative of complicity of the professional in his
> post.The statements where he is doubtful of his photoframes, snaps which
> are
> illegal point to something more sinister.?
> These two paragraphs are enough to raise the doubt of the great work on
> river Brahmaputhra.!
>
>     "I’d been taking pictures along the way. I’d been shooting with a
> wide angle lens. I was pretty certain that my wide angle shots, my
> landscape photos etc, would have segments of the space I was going
> through, which I now realised was illegal. I didn’t want to get caught
> with these pictures, so I worked out how to remove this incriminating
> evidence."
>    "The gate itself, I’m trying to remember now, large black gates,
> double gates, about ten feet tall, 20 feet wide, I think. But the
> fence, the barbed wire extends above that, [what, it extends above the
> gate?] well, not above the gate itself, but it’s higher than the gate,
> stretching on both sides, as far as the eye can see.
>
> It’s still quite early, but how do you look back at the incident?
>
> That’s a big question. My first concern is that I have to finish my
> story so I have to work. The story is incomplete, it needs to be told,
> not only the Brahmaputra story, but given this situation, the border
> story. I think it becomes even more important today, knowing what I do
> now, that we question the structures that makes such a situation
> possible. But, before anything else, I need to thank the many, many
> people who have done so much for me over this period of time."
>
>
> Being journalist, crime does pay.?
>
> On Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 10:49 PM, A.K. Malik <akmalik45 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> >
> > Hi,
> >    The entire episode seems Straight from our Bollywood.Unable to express
> > views whom to blame especially the part where he was called to Indian
> > territory.BSF jawans??
> >
> > (A.K.MALIK)
> >
> >
> > --- On Mon, 6/22/09, Harsh Kapoor <aiindex at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > From: Harsh Kapoor <aiindex at gmail.com>
> > > Subject: [Reader-list] Detained in India, arrested in Bangladesh
> > > To: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
> > > Date: Monday, June 22, 2009, 4:41 AM
> > > New Age, 22 June 2009
> > >
> > > Detained in India, arrested in Bangladesh
> > >
> > > Shahidul Alam in an interview with Rahnuma Ahmed
> > >
> > >
> > > Please tell us about your project and why you were detained
> > > by the
> > > Indian Border Security Force.
> > >
> > >    I started the Brahmaputra project in the
> > > late 1990s. It’s an
> > > incredible river that goes from Tibet through Arunachal and
> > > Assam in
> > > India, into Bangladesh and all the way into the Bay of
> > > Bengal. In the
> > > early part of the project I’d done some video footage in
> > > Tibet and
> > > India, but not any in Bangladesh. We at Drik felt that we
> > > should try
> > > and produce a film, so my colleagues in the audiovisual
> > > department,
> > > Sumeru Mukhopadhyay and Abul Kasem, and I went off to
> > > Nijhum Deep in
> > > the south, in the Bay of Bengal on 11th June for 3 days.
> > >
> > >    We returned to Dhaka, then went to
> > > Rowmari on the 15th to
> > > photograph the section of the river where it crosses from
> > > India to
> > > Bangladesh. We drove up to Chilmari, went by boat to the
> > > Rowmari side,
> > > found a guesthouse. It was late afternoon, and we thought
> > > we should go
> > > out on a recce. As photographers we had obviously cameras,
> > > and I had a
> > > video camera with me.
> > >
> > >    As it often happens in villages,
> > > distances are not the same as we
> > > measure it in the city, so whenever we asked people where
> > > it was,
> > > they’d say, ‘just out there’, ‘a little bit
> > > further’, ‘ten more
> > > minutes...’ We ended up travelling quite a long way, by
> > > van, a little
> > > by boat, then we walked through market places, by
> > > people’s homes, with
> > > cameras dangling on either side, three strangers, creating
> > > a lot of
> > > attention.
> > >
> > >    At one point we were walking across some
> > > paddy fields, and an
> > > elderly farmer stopped me and said, this is a difficult way
> > > to go, why
> > > don’t you go on to the road which is nearby. This was a
> > > clay track
> > > road, very overgrown, not much of a road, but soon after I
> > > got on to
> > > this road armed BSF (Indian Border Security Force) people
> > > from the
> > > other side of the fence beckoned me. I knew this was a
> > > dangerous
> > > situation. I knew that 52 Bangladeshis had been gunned down
> > > by the BSF
> > > during the last 6 months. I was possibly only 50 yards away
> > > – well
> > > within their shooting range. It wasn’t sensible to do
> > > anything other
> > > than comply. So, I walked calmly towards them, making plans
> > > about how
> > > I should proceed.
> > >
> > >    As I had sort of expected when I got
> > > close to the gate, they opened
> > > the gate, several of them ran out and literally dragged me
> > > inside. And
> > > locked the gate. I was well and truly within India.
> > >
> > >    You mean there were no border signposts.
> > >
> > >    No, there was absolutely no sign
> > > mentioning territory, or that we
> > > were crossing into restricted zone, whether it was no
> > > man’s land or
> > > anything else. These were paddy fields we were walking
> > > across. When I
> > > got onto this dirt track, there was still no sign. One
> > > could see there
> > > was the Indian border far away, one could certainly see the
> > > fence. And
> > > it was soon after I got onto the dirt track that the BSF
> > > beckoned me.
> > > But before that, there’d been absolutely no indication
> > > that we were
> > > outside anywhere of Bangladesh.
> > >
> > >    But what about BDR soldiers?
> > >
> > >    No, none. Certainly, we’d expected
> > > there to be BDR jawans and other
> > > people, or at least some sort of an indication near the
> > > border, but
> > > there weren’t any.
> > >
> > >    After the BSF pulled you into their
> > > gates, what happened? Did they
> > > assault you?
> > >
> > >    No. They came out and grabbed me, and
> > > dragged me in. They (how many
> > > were they?) about 5 or 6, there were more inside, they were
> > > a bit
> > > rough in dragging me in but I wouldn’t say I was
> > > assaulted.
> > >
> > >    As a seasoned photojournalist, how did
> > > you strategise, to get out
> > > of this situation?
> > >
> > >    Well, since I was in their firing range
> > > what was most important was
> > > to stay alive. Once inside, there was the question of
> > > avoiding
> > > physical violence. I felt I would be much safer in the
> > > hands of senior
> > > officers than in the hands of jawans, trigger-happy jawans
> > > in
> > > particular. Knowing the history between the BSF and
> > > Bangladeshis, I
> > > felt that presenting myself as a Bangladeshi was going to
> > > be suicidal.
> > >
> > >    I made the decision that I was going to
> > > be a foreign photographer,
> > > out on an assignment. I decided I would speak only in
> > > English. I did
> > > have Bangladeshi identity with me which I didn’t want to
> > > show. I also
> > > had a UK driver’s license, so it made sense for me to be
> > > British. I
> > > mentioned National Geographic because that was a known name
> > > and even
> > > out here the jawans might have heard of it. I also
> > > calculated that
> > > bringing in a US component could give me some sort of
> > > insularity,
> > > given the power of the US, and the fact that India was its
> > > close ally.
> > > As for the National Geographic, I am on their Advisory
> > > Board. I give a
> > > lecture there every year, I’m involved in many of their
> > > seminars so I
> > > do have a long relationship with the organisation but I
> > > wasn’t on
> > > assignment for them.
> > >
> > >    My initial attempt at convincing them
> > > that I was a foreigner with
> > > British and US connections was merely power play. I was
> > > trying to make
> > > sure the jawans felt I wasn’t some Bangladeshi they could
> > > beat up and
> > > kill, but someone from far away, who had better
> > > connections. And
> > > frankly, I was using the race and class card.
> > >
> > >    What happened after that?
> > >
> > >    Well, talk of the National Geographic, of
> > > being British, shook them
> > > a little bit. Of course, I pretended I didn’t speak
> > > Bangla or Hindi. I
> > > heard them talking amongst each other, saying that perhaps
> > > it wasn’t
> > > such a good idea to take a foreigner, perhaps they should
> > > let him go.
> > >
> > >    I decided to push my luck further. I
> > > said, unless you let me speak
> > > to my National Geographic colleagues they might report to
> > > head office.
> > > Then I rang you, my partner, and I spoke to you in my best
> > > British
> > > accent. I remember it took you a little while since we
> > > don’t speak to
> > > each other in English, but you quickly twigged. More for
> > > the audience
> > > than for anyone else, I fairly loudly told you to inform
> > > the prime
> > > minister, the home minister, the BDR people, the BSF head,
> > > etc. I
> > > pulled names out of my hat willy-nilly, but making sure
> > > they were
> > > important-sounding names, so that that these jawans
> > > recognised that I
> > > was a very important person, with important connections.
> > >
> > >    How were you treated by BSF once they
> > > knew that you were a big-shot
> > > photographer?
> > >
> > >    Once the officers arrived, I felt, I was
> > > more in control. They
> > > wanted to look at my identity card, asked for my address.
> > > Soon, the
> > > officer, a Mr PK Roy, a Bengali, was convinced that I was
> > > not an
> > > ordinary Bangladeshi but probably an important foreign
> > > photographer.
> > > Their attitude began to change. He asked the jawans to get
> > > me a cup of
> > > tea.
> > >
> > >    Later, he got a phone call, from
> > > obviously a senior person on his
> > > side, who presumably told him that I should be released,
> > > that I should
> > > be taken good care of. Now, it was a question of the
> > > information
> > > percolating down to the lower levels of command, and
> > > getting a written
> > > confirmation from his immediate superiors before he could
> > > release me.
> > >
> > >    Much later, sweets were bought from the
> > > market. The tone of the
> > > conversation, and the dynamics, changed completely. But, as
> > > it was
> > > getting dark, they were convinced no handover would take
> > > place at
> > > night. I was taken to a guesthouse nearby, into a room,
> > > with a
> > > television, a telephone with a handle, a bed, an attached
> > > bathroom.
> > > Very clean, very pleasant place, and given dinner. Mr PK
> > > Roy was very
> > > concerned that I was made to feel looked after. I spoke to
> > > his
> > > commander who was extremely polite, apologised for the
> > > situation, and
> > > said that the BDR had been informed. I would be handed over
> > > to the
> > > BDR, as soon as communication took place. I thanked him,
> > > and assured
> > > him that I was being well looked after. It was a very
> > > civil
> > > conversation.
> > >
> > >    What were your concerns then, as a
> > > photographer?
> > >
> > >    I’d been taking pictures along the way.
> > > I’d been shooting with a
> > > wide angle lens. I was pretty certain that my wide angle
> > > shots, my
> > > landscape photos etc, would have segments of the space I
> > > was going
> > > through, which I now realised was illegal. I didn’t want
> > > to get caught
> > > with these pictures, so I worked out how to remove this
> > > incriminating
> > > evidence.
> > >
> > >    What happened after you were handed over?
> > > It was at 11:15, right?
> > >
> > >    Yes, around then. It was pitch dark,
> > > dense shrubbery, bad roads. We
> > > came to a point where Mr PK Roy said this is where the sign
> > > is [Indian
> > > no man’s land begins]. So I said, well, please show me
> > > the sign. They
> > > looked around, but couldn’t find it. They apologised and
> > > said, please
> > > believe us, it’s here, we can’t find it right now. Then
> > > they met the
> > > BDR people, again, a very civil meeting. The BSF produced a
> > > document
> > > for the BDR to sign, when I was handed over.
> > >
> > >    Once the Indians left, the BDR subedar
> > > got a phone call from his
> > > commanding officer. He spoke to me then, and initially
> > > accused me,
> > > apni lukie gecchen, you sneaked into this place. I strongly
> > > objected
> > > because we’d come in broad daylight, three of us, we had
> > > equipment, we
> > > had asked people for directions. He then changed his tack.
> > > He said
> > > there were some formalities which I had to go through,
> > > papers I needed
> > > to sign. Of course, I agreed.
> > >
> > >    And did you learn from the Kurigram BDR,
> > > how they came to know of
> > > your detention by the BSF? Was it locally, or from Dhaka?
> > >
> > >    No, I found out later from conversations,
> > > they’d received the
> > > information from Dhaka. In fact, the subedar was very
> > > worried about
> > > this. When the BDR director general had rung from Dhaka, he
> > > had
> > > specific information about where I was. But the local-level
> > > BDR hadn’t
> > > a clue.
> > >
> > >    And why do you think those at the
> > > local-level didn’t know?
> > >
> > >    I was told about this later. I was
> > > chatting to them and they said,
> > > we’d normally have known. It wouldn’t have occurred but
> > > we had some
> > > VIP guests. We had been busy entertaining the VIPs.
> > >
> > >    And after that...?
> > >
> > >    Initially, we went to the BDR camp, three
> > > of us on a motorcycle,
> > > miles away from where this incident took place. They
> > > offered me food
> > > which had apparently been prepared for the VIP guests so it
> > > was good
> > > food. They kept saying another 5-10 minutes, but after a
> > > long time, I
> > > said look, what’s going on here, I want to get back. We
> > > eventually
> > > started walking but instead of taking me to the guesthouse,
> > > they took
> > > me to the thana. Another long wait, close conversations
> > > between BDR
> > > personnel and police. At one stage, I said, I’m very
> > > appreciative that
> > > you’ve got me out of India. But I’m now a citizen in my
> > > own country,
> > > you have no right to keep me here unless you’re arresting
> > > me for
> > > something. I got up to walk away and that’s when I
> > > realised they
> > > weren’t going to let me leave the place. By then I learnt
> > > from local
> > > people who had come to the thana that the BDR was about to
> > > file a case
> > > against me. At this stage I rang you again, this was about
> > > 2:30/3:00
> > > in the morning. Shortly after this, they confiscated my
> > > cameras, and
> > > my phone. I no longer had direct access to anyone.
> > >
> > >    So, why did the Bangladesh government
> > > file a case against you?
> > >
> > >    It’s conjecture, of course. The local
> > > BDR were extremely worried
> > > about the predicament they were in. The fact that they had
> > > no
> > > knowledge of this incident, that the border had been
> > > completely
> > > un-manned, that there was no BDR person in sight, that they
> > > didn’t
> > > know about it even after the local people had gotten to
> > > know. It left
> > > them with egg on their face. And again, the original
> > > accusation by the
> > > colonel suggested that there was an attempt to put the
> > > blame and onus
> > > upon us, that we had sneaked into this place, which was
> > > clearly not
> > > true. So, there was huge negligence on the part of the BDR,
> > > and I
> > > suspect they needed some sort of a diversionary tactic to
> > > cover up for
> > > their omission.
> > >
> > >    Did your bail application and the court
> > > proceedings go through smoothly?
> > >
> > >    Yes, everyone was very cooperative. I was
> > > also granted permission
> > > to travel abroad. I am scheduled for an exclusive photo
> > > shoot with
> > > Nelson Mandela, and there are other important assignments
> > > that I
> > > wouldn’t like to miss, yes, things went very well. Most
> > > Kurigram
> > > lawyers and journalists were they. They rallied around me.
> > >
> > >    If you were not who you are, what could
> > > have happened?
> > >
> > >    Possibly, the worst. The BDR men
> > > themselves told me that I’d done a
> > > very wise thing by walking up to them, not attempting to
> > > run, or doing
> > > anything silly. They said they were scared to go to these
> > > places.
> > > That, sometimes, criminals take shelter from the police by
> > > going to
> > > these regions because they know that the police are scared
> > > of
> > > venturing there. So, by all concerned it was known to be
> > > dangerous
> > > territory. That there was a huge amount of harassment, they
> > > themselves
> > > felt harassed, and certainly ordinary people were harassed,
> > > but what
> > > they kept coming back to every time was, you’d probably
> > > have been
> > > dead.
> > >
> > >    You saw the fence built by the Indian
> > > government at close quarters
> > > – probably closer than you had planned (laughter,
> > > audible) – I’d like
> > > to know what you think of that.
> > >
> > >    I have been to many countries. I have
> > > seen many borders. I know of
> > > the Palestinian border, but outside of that this is
> > > certainly the most
> > > imposing, dominating, scary, border post that I have come
> > > across. I’ve
> > > gone across the Germany-Poland border, where you’ve had
> > > surveillance
> > > equipment, you’ve had people with night shooting guns,
> > > but in none of
> > > those situations have I seen anything that looks as scary
> > > as this
> > > particular fence. The fact that we are neighbouring
> > > countries, the
> > > fact that we are meant to have a friendly relationship, is
> > > no way
> > > signified by the presence of a physical entity of this
> > > sort.
> > >
> > >    One of the things that also worries me is
> > > that there are many
> > > people who have friends, relatives, very close ones across
> > > the border,
> > > they have to travel one day to get to Rajshahi, apply for a
> > > visa a
> > > month in advance, the costs, the time, the preparation, all
> > > of the
> > > things that need to be done merely to be able to go across
> > > to visit a
> > > near one, simply cannot be condoned.
> > >
> > >    Considering that India has played such an
> > > important role in the
> > > liberation of Bangladesh, one would have expected a very,
> > > very
> > > different relationship between these two countries.
> > > Considering that
> > > we call ourselves members of SAARC [South Asian Association
> > > for
> > > Regional Cooperation], we’d expect far more cordial
> > > relations between
> > > ourselves. The fence, the fact that the BSF is so
> > > trigger-happy, the
> > > fact that 52 Bangladeshis have been gunned down in the last
> > > 6 months,
> > > the fact that it is a zone of terror for local people and
> > > for our BDR,
> > > speaks volumes of what it should not be about.
> > >
> > >    How high is the fence?
> > >
> > >    The gate itself, I’m trying to remember
> > > now, large black gates,
> > > double gates, about ten feet tall, 20 feet wide, I think.
> > > But the
> > > fence, the barbed wire extends above that, [what, it
> > > extends above the
> > > gate?] well, not above the gate itself, but it’s higher
> > > than the gate,
> > > stretching on both sides, as far as the eye can see.
> > >
> > >    It’s still quite early, but how do you
> > > look back at the incident?
> > >
> > >    That’s a big question. My first concern
> > > is that I have to finish my
> > > story so I have to work. The story is incomplete, it needs
> > > to be told,
> > > not only the Brahmaputra story, but given this situation,
> > > the border
> > > story. I think it becomes even more important today,
> > > knowing what I do
> > > now, that we question the structures that makes such a
> > > situation
> > > possible. But, before anything else, I need to thank the
> > > many, many
> > > people who have done so much for me over this period of
> > > time.
> > >
> > >    And again, I reflect upon this in a
> > > different way. Obviously, I am
> > > happy that I am out of danger. But I also reflect upon two
> > > issues,
> > > one, the fact that while I was detained and later released
> > > by India, I
> > > have actually been arrested by my own country in the course
> > > of doing
> > > what happens to be my duty, what is in the public interest.
> > > I also
> > > think it is important to reflect on the fact that at a
> > > political
> > > level, at an official level, there are these huge
> > > differences between
> > > our nations, but at a human level, at a personal level,
> > > there exists
> > > huge camaraderie.
> > >
> > >    Some of the people who did the most in
> > > getting me released were my
> > > colleagues, my journalist friends across the border in
> > > India, and of
> > > course, Mahasweta Devi. She had, as you know, inaugurated
> > > CchobiMela
> > > V, so, in a way this reflects how we as professionals, as
> > > artists, as
> > > individuals, have this camaraderie, have this openness,
> > > have this
> > > mutual respect, have this pull toward each other, which
> > > does not seem
> > > to be reflected by the people who govern our nations.
> > > _________________________________________
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> >
> >
> > _________________________________________
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> > Critiques & Collaborations
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>
>
>
> --
> Rajen.
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