Admittedly, the first daunting task of an irregular and amateur writer is to decide on a topic. The topic must be of current interest and must bear relevance especially when it is appearing on the pages of a daily which is more engaged in business and money matters. Once that hurdle is overcome, the next biggest one is the choosing of a title, a title that ought to be appropriate and that ought to attract the attention of the potential reader. Worthwhile to mention that the Editorial Board of the Financial Express has been very open in this aspect thus allowing and accommodating a varied range of opinions and views on national and international matters.
With that prelude, let me confess that part of the title belongs to the op-ed written by the scribe which was published in the January 25, 2011 issue of this daily in the aftermath of the killing of a 15-year-old Bangladeshi girl named Felani at the Kurigram border. It is widely known that illegal movements involving cross-border smuggling of goods and cattle heads often result in such untoward incidents. But the Felani Tragedy became a story by itself.
Reportedly, Felani went with her father on the other side of the "barbed wire" to work in a brick field to eke out a living. When the father and the daughter thought that they had saved enough and it was time to return home so that Felani could be married out to a boy who would give her a home and living. Our girl Felani would have her own home, raise her own children and run her own family. Alas! that was not to be. While crossing the barbed wire fence, her father could make it but Felani could not. Her "girlie dress" got entangled with the wire and only to be met with a bullet from the vigilant Indian Border Security Force. What made her end so tragic was the fact that the body kept dangling there, head down, for hours together before it could be retrieved for an honourable burial. News of deaths at the outpost is not uncommon. But this was a special one. This incident literally touched every heart and mind, reached every hearth and home, and shook conscience of every one on either side of the fence and beyond.
The Indian Prime Minister has likened the finalisation of the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA), which has earned wide applause and accolade for the leadership of India and Bangladesh from across the globe, to the falling down of the infamous Berlin Wall. Indeed, our original story on Felani did make a mention of the much dreaded Checkpoint Charlie of the Berlin Wall or the Panmanjum Tree or the Checkpoints in the Gaza Strip. It is this pronouncement of the Honourable Prime Minister that has prompted the writer to piece together this write-up for reminiscence.
With the implementation of the LBA, a watershed (pun intended) understanding has been initiated and the whole gamut of bilateral relationship has come to the fore. And for those of us who like to play with words or fancy pun, the term watershed could have a far-reaching effect to the benefit of the lower riparian Bangladesh. The high voltage visit by the Indian Prime Minister is expected to witness confluence of a deeper and more meaningful understanding in all areas of interest.
The Felani tragedy had set the tone for a bit of soul-searching. Legal proceedings have been initiated for in-depth investigation and legal disposition of the unfortunate incident. Has the fall of Felani any relevance in the present scheme of events?
Well, the very name Felani in itself is somewhat tepid and uninspiring. Her soul resting in its permanent abode may watch the present development with some solace. Felani might feel reassured to see how statesmen of her own kind, named and famed with the (feminine) attributes of beatitude and kind-heartedness, are creating and fostering an atmosphere of trust and camaraderie across the very barbed wire that had once stolen her dream and denigrated her to a dangling corpse.
PS: Hasina and Shushma mean beauty, and Mamata stands for adoration.
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