New Age | Newspaper
Enclave peoples endless woes
Mustafizur Rahman
Much-awaited exchange of enclaves between India and Bangladesh is still hanging in the balance with the landlocked peoples hope for merger with the mainland fading.
Residents of the enclaves 111 of India located inside Bangladesh and 51 of Bangladesh inside India are passing days in uncertainties without any official identity as the governments of the two countries have failed to resolve the issue left pending since partition of the sub-continent in 1947.
Over 51,000 enclave people are in despair as neither Bangladesh nor India could give any timeframe for exchange of the landlocked areas, according to enclave leaders.
They said the first-ever joint headcount conducted in July, 2011 aimed to exchange the areas in adverse possession rekindled hopes and enthusiasm among the residents of the enclaves.
We expected that the enclaves would be exchanged between Bangladesh and India this year [2011] bringing an end to the miseries of the people living in the landlocked areas without citizenship over decades, India-Bangladesh Enclaves Exchange Coordination Committees Bangladesh unit general secretary Ghulam Mostafa told New Age.
He said that the enclave people were now frustrated with India still delaying ratification of the Mujib-Indira land boundary treaty, which stipulates expeditious exchange of the landlocked areas subject to ratification of the accord by the two governments.
In a bid to end the suffering and uncertainties of the enclave people and resolve the long-standing disputes over border, Bangladesh and India on September 6, 2011 signed a protocol on the land boundary agreement during Indian prime minister Manmohan Singhs visit to Dhaka.
Subject to ratification by the two governments, the protocol included exchange of enclaves, transfer of adversely possessed land in the border, settlement of 6.5 kilometres of undemarcated land boundary and signing of strip maps.
Indian authorities have assured us that they have taken steps for ratification of the land boundary treaty by their parliament, home ministry joint secretary (political) Kamal Uddin Ahmed said.
He told New Age that the adversely possessed lands along the borders would also be transferred taking into consideration the ground reality under the land boundary agreement.
Kamal Uddin, also head of the Joint Boundary Working Group, said that the document would be exchanged between the two countries after its ratification by both the countries.
Authorities in Bangladesh and India had made all preparations for the exchange of the landlocked areas during Manmohan Singhs two-day visit to Dhaka, said officials.
Enclave people having no valid identity documents were eagerly waiting for the exchange of the territories in adverse possession between Bangladesh and India to get official recognition as citizens, a number of enclave dwellers said.
They said that there were no authorities to look after their wellbeing and they were not even allowed to enter their mainland.
It was expected that Manmohans visit to Dhaka would expedite implementation of the accord signed 37 years back by the then Bangladesh prime minister, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and the then Indian prime minister, Indira Gandhi, to define more accurately certain points and to complete the demarcation of land boundary between the two countries.
India has kept pending ratification of the Mujib-Indira land boundary agreement signed in 1974, halting the settlement process of border demarcation and exchange of enclaves till date.
The people living in 162 enclaves without basic rights have long been demanding merger of the landlocked areas with respective mainland as per the agreement.
Article 5 of the accord says, This agreement shall be subject to ratification by the governments of Bangladesh and India and instruments of ratification shall be exchanged as early as possible. The agreement shall take effect from the date of the exchange of the instruments of ratification.
Bangladesh government ratified the agreement on November 27, 1974 after the two countries had signed it on May 16, 1974 for demarcation of 4,156 kilometers of land boundary.
Out of 51 Bangladesh enclaves, 18 of Kurigram and 33 of Lalmonirhat are located situated in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal in India. Similarly, out of 111 Indian enclaves, 12 are situated in Kurigram, 59 in Lalmonirhat, four in Nilphamari and 36 in Panchagarh districts of Bangladesh.
The two countries are now expected to resolve the decades-old disputes involving 3,000 acres of Bangladesh land and its 51 enclaves with an area of 7,110 acres inside India and 3,500 acres of Indian land and its 111 enclaves with an area of 17160.63 acres inside Bangladesh, according to officials.
The enclave people both in India and Bangladesh are supposed to have the right of staying where they are as nationals of the state to which the areas are transferred.
The number of people living in the Indian enclaves located in four districts of Bangladesh Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Kurigram and Panchagarh is 34,000 while the number of people in Bangladeshi enclaves inside the Indian district of Cooch Behar is 17,000, the joint headcount report said.
Enclave peoples endless woes
Mustafizur Rahman
Much-awaited exchange of enclaves between India and Bangladesh is still hanging in the balance with the landlocked peoples hope for merger with the mainland fading.
Residents of the enclaves 111 of India located inside Bangladesh and 51 of Bangladesh inside India are passing days in uncertainties without any official identity as the governments of the two countries have failed to resolve the issue left pending since partition of the sub-continent in 1947.
Over 51,000 enclave people are in despair as neither Bangladesh nor India could give any timeframe for exchange of the landlocked areas, according to enclave leaders.
They said the first-ever joint headcount conducted in July, 2011 aimed to exchange the areas in adverse possession rekindled hopes and enthusiasm among the residents of the enclaves.
We expected that the enclaves would be exchanged between Bangladesh and India this year [2011] bringing an end to the miseries of the people living in the landlocked areas without citizenship over decades, India-Bangladesh Enclaves Exchange Coordination Committees Bangladesh unit general secretary Ghulam Mostafa told New Age.
He said that the enclave people were now frustrated with India still delaying ratification of the Mujib-Indira land boundary treaty, which stipulates expeditious exchange of the landlocked areas subject to ratification of the accord by the two governments.
In a bid to end the suffering and uncertainties of the enclave people and resolve the long-standing disputes over border, Bangladesh and India on September 6, 2011 signed a protocol on the land boundary agreement during Indian prime minister Manmohan Singhs visit to Dhaka.
Subject to ratification by the two governments, the protocol included exchange of enclaves, transfer of adversely possessed land in the border, settlement of 6.5 kilometres of undemarcated land boundary and signing of strip maps.
Indian authorities have assured us that they have taken steps for ratification of the land boundary treaty by their parliament, home ministry joint secretary (political) Kamal Uddin Ahmed said.
He told New Age that the adversely possessed lands along the borders would also be transferred taking into consideration the ground reality under the land boundary agreement.
Kamal Uddin, also head of the Joint Boundary Working Group, said that the document would be exchanged between the two countries after its ratification by both the countries.
Authorities in Bangladesh and India had made all preparations for the exchange of the landlocked areas during Manmohan Singhs two-day visit to Dhaka, said officials.
Enclave people having no valid identity documents were eagerly waiting for the exchange of the territories in adverse possession between Bangladesh and India to get official recognition as citizens, a number of enclave dwellers said.
They said that there were no authorities to look after their wellbeing and they were not even allowed to enter their mainland.
It was expected that Manmohans visit to Dhaka would expedite implementation of the accord signed 37 years back by the then Bangladesh prime minister, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and the then Indian prime minister, Indira Gandhi, to define more accurately certain points and to complete the demarcation of land boundary between the two countries.
India has kept pending ratification of the Mujib-Indira land boundary agreement signed in 1974, halting the settlement process of border demarcation and exchange of enclaves till date.
The people living in 162 enclaves without basic rights have long been demanding merger of the landlocked areas with respective mainland as per the agreement.
Article 5 of the accord says, This agreement shall be subject to ratification by the governments of Bangladesh and India and instruments of ratification shall be exchanged as early as possible. The agreement shall take effect from the date of the exchange of the instruments of ratification.
Bangladesh government ratified the agreement on November 27, 1974 after the two countries had signed it on May 16, 1974 for demarcation of 4,156 kilometers of land boundary.
Out of 51 Bangladesh enclaves, 18 of Kurigram and 33 of Lalmonirhat are located situated in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal in India. Similarly, out of 111 Indian enclaves, 12 are situated in Kurigram, 59 in Lalmonirhat, four in Nilphamari and 36 in Panchagarh districts of Bangladesh.
The two countries are now expected to resolve the decades-old disputes involving 3,000 acres of Bangladesh land and its 51 enclaves with an area of 7,110 acres inside India and 3,500 acres of Indian land and its 111 enclaves with an area of 17160.63 acres inside Bangladesh, according to officials.
The enclave people both in India and Bangladesh are supposed to have the right of staying where they are as nationals of the state to which the areas are transferred.
The number of people living in the Indian enclaves located in four districts of Bangladesh Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Kurigram and Panchagarh is 34,000 while the number of people in Bangladeshi enclaves inside the Indian district of Cooch Behar is 17,000, the joint headcount report said.