The last two months saw the rekindling of border disputes between India and Bangladesh.

This time, a community of snake charmers - 213 men, women, and children - were literally stuck in the middle of this. The incident sprang to light with India claiming to force back this community into Bangladesh, claiming that they were illegal immigrants. Bangladesh on the other hand resisted saying that this was an Indian community. While the governments of the two countries went back and forth over days, 213 people lived under an open sky during a cold winter. And then, it was solved as suddenly as it had begun. The community literally disappeared into the fog with the Indian government claiming that Bangladesh took this community back while Bangladeshi sources claimed that they had allowed no one in.

At the heart of some of the cross-border issues are enclaves - land claimed by one country lying almost completely in the other. These enclaves are a result of partition as well as events during the independence of Bangladesh. Given their geographic remoteness, they are usually not well administered by federal or state governments but have become regions controlled by powerful individuals. The site of the above incident was an enclave in Padua.

In such a situation, trafficking of people (for reasons of prostitutions, labor and increased vote banks) is common occurrence. Control of these enclaves has also been cause of skirmishes between the Border Security Force (BSF) from India and the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR).

Despite promises by both governments to work out differences, cross border problems have continued to destabilize the lives of thousands of villagers living in these enclaves along the borders. Finger pointing between BSF and BDR have not helped. Bangladesh has accused BSF specifically and the Indian Armed Forces in general of build up along the border. Allegations of intrusion by Indian Forces into Bangladesh and occasional killing of villagers and destruction of property have been made. The Indian government, at the same time, has blamed Bangladesh of allowing anti-India extremists groups to operate within its territories. It has further charged the Bangladeshi border forces of aiding if not encouraging illegal immigrants to cross into India.

This fresh round of posturing has occurred at a time when the Indian government has been publicly promising to clamp down on illegal migration of Bangladeshis across the Bengal border. The Indian government claims that there are millions of illegal Bangladeshis living in India who are also responsible for law and order problems and promises that they will be rounded up and deported. At a time when communal tensions are high and given that even natives of India often have little proof to claim that they are bona fide citizens, it is not clear how the government plans to identify Bangladeshi immigrants and deport them.

At the same time, increased targeting of Hindus under the regime Begum Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party has also resulted in increasing rift between the two countries. In a case of twisted irony, activists protesting repression of minorities in Bangladesh, having fled to Kolkata, find themselves in prison in India as illegal immigrants. In this convergence of jingoism and religious politicking, the people - especially the minorities - of both countries find themselves in an unenviable position. When a solution will emerge is anybody's guess.