Editorial: Policing Border Trade

Mobile phones come with reasonably good cameras nowadays, but it is unlikely that they offer resolutions of espionage level. And yet, a trader from Tibet Autonomous Region is under Judicial Custody in Sikkim, booked under provisions of the Official Secrets Act for having allegedly continued clicking photographs on the journey from Nathula to the Sherathang Trade Mart despite being told not to. Did he do something unlawful? As far as the provisions of laws in practise are concerned, he did. The jury however is still out on whether he was spying, just sightseeing or only wanting to please some IB-types back home with some ‘interesting’ photographs. He has been taken into custody and charged and the matter will probably be resolved in the courts now. Meanwhile, there is a section which believes that the ITBP overreacted when it took the trader from TAR into custody last week. Did they? Not really, because ITBP happens to be a force raised to ‘guard’ the border with Tibet and what might seem as overreaction to observers from the outside, is essentially them doing their job. Much on the same lines as the coast guards of India and Pakistan, and now even Sri Lanka, routinely arrest fishermen and lock them away for straying into their respective territorial waters. Do fishermen pose a national security risk? Unlikely most of the times, but they frequently trespass and when caught breaking maritime rules, pay an excessive price, but such are the laws. Coast guard personnel cannot be blamed, but the rules can be brought into question. Sikkim now experiences the same with regard to Nathula Border Trade. Security forces, whether ITBP or the Indian Army, would not have been very keen on opening Nathula for border trade. Not because they want to deny traders of a new trading opportunity, but simply because even a limitedly open border is in conflict with their priority to patrol and guard it. In fact, security agencies would prefer that all civilians, not just traders from TAR or Sikkim but even domestic tourists, be kept away from the border because doing so would make their job less complicated. And even though this attitude might appear uptight, it is in keeping with the role entrusted on the forces. But the border pass is open for domestic tourists and border trade, and if the policy makers were keen that both proceeded smooth and without avoidable confrontation, its policing should also have been fine-tuned. A routine briefing and sensitisation for border personnel on their role in the border trade arrangement, which really should see them nuance their guard and protect instinctive response with some cordiality, should be considered. It is natural for personnel of a force raised to Police the Tibet Border to see spies in every crossover from the other side, but when a border trade is carried out under their watch their gaze should be tempered with some neighbourly friendliness...