Dhaka, Aug 20 (bdnews24.com)—Bangladesh and India have begun signing Border Strip Maps after around 54 years, officially recognising the 4156-kilometre international border.
The signing started at a progamme at the Department of Land Records and Surveys (DLRS) in Dhaka on Saturday, two weeks before the visit of Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh. Bangladesh high commissioner in New Delhi Tariq Ahmad Karim and Indian high commissioner in Dhaka Rajeet Mitter signed some of 1,149 maps for five sectors of 4.
The border demarcation team chief, joint home secretary (political) Kamal Uddin Ahmed said Bangladesh had made half of the maps and India the remainder. "The maps were finalised after scrutiny by representatives of the two countries," he said.
Kama lUddin said the two high commissioners would sign eight copies of each map. Though the border had verbal recognition, it will get legal base once the maps are signed.
A 6.5-kilometre-long part of the border, including some adversely possessed lands, is yet to be demarcated. The representatives of the two countries would finalise the maps for this part soon, Kamal Uddin said.
The demarcation of border between India and Pakistan started in 1947. A preliminary draft on the demarcation had been signed in 1956. The process, however, stalled later. After East Pakistan had become Bangladesh in 1971, then the prime minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his Indian counterpart Indira Gandhi signed a Land Border Deal in 1974 and the demarcation started. The process had stopped again.
The issue came to the fore during prime minister Sheikh Hasina's India visit last year. Survey of Bangladesh conducted the assessment in the Chittagong Hill Tracts while DLRS in the remaining areas.
DLRS made a total of 628 maps for 2,262 kilometres of Bangladesh-Paschim Banga border, 269 maps for 874 kilometres of Bangladesh-Tripura border, 93 maps for 264-kilometre Bangladesh-Assam border and 139 maps for 436-kilometre Bangladesh-Meghalaya border.
Survey of Bangladesh made 20 maps for 320-kilometre Bangladesh-Mizoram border, surveyor general of the organisation Brig Gen Mohammad Mominul Haque said.
Home minister Shahara Khatun, land minister Rezaul Karim Hira, foreign minister Dipu Moni, state minister for land Mostafizur Rahman, state minister for home Shamsul Hoque Tuku, home secretary Abdus Sobhan Shikder, foreign secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes, land secretary Mokhlesur Rahman and Border Guard Bangladesh director general Anwar Hossain were also present at the programme.
Maj Gen Girish Kumar, head of the boundary cell of the Indian external affairs ministry, and M Subaidu, counsellor of the political wing of the Indian high commission in Dhaka, also attended the programme.
Terming the signing 'historic', the ministers said the settlement of the border would help further develop relations between the two countries.
SETTLEMENT OF ENCLAVE ISSUE IN MANMOHAN VISIT
Kamal Uddin said the dispute over enclaves would be settled during prime minister Manmohan Singh's Sept 6-7 visit to Dhaka. Singh would sign a deal with his Bangladeshi counterpart Hasina during the visit to swap enclaves. There are 111 Indian enclaves with 37,000 people living inside Bangladesh while 51 with 14,000 inside Paschim Banga.
Several issues like water sharing and land dispute would be hopefully settled during Manmohan's visit.
Indo-Bangla border officially recognised | Bangladesh | bdnews24.com
P.S: Ignore the angry face, it was meant to be a
