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Land Boundary Agreement: 14 thousand Bangladeshis turn Indians
Highlights
At the stroke of Friday midnight, 51,000 stateless people of India and Bangladesh attained freedom when the two countries ended more than six decades of their lingering wait for citizenship by exchanging 162 adversely-held enclaves between them.
At the stroke of Friday midnight, 51,000 stateless people of India and Bangladesh attained freedom when the two countries ended more than six decades of their lingering wait for citizenship by exchanging 162 adversely-held enclaves between them.
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Seconds past midnight, hundreds of people in the Indian-held enclaves including Madhya Masaldanga came out of their homes, hoisted the Tricolour and danced as the much-awaited exchange of enclaves.
About 14,000 of them living in Bangladeshi enclaves, became Indians. The exchange of enclaves was made possible under the the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) signed between the two countries recently. The LBA was signed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina under which they swapped the enclaves.
End to a long-drawn agony
The inhabitants in the exchanged conclaves were deprived of public services like health care, electricity and living in squalid conditions. The transfer of enclaves will be conducted in a phased manner over the next 11 months. A security source said: “In between July 6 and 16, a joint survey was conducted and people in the enclaves were given the option to choose their country.”
About 51,000 residents of the enclaves, who have been stateless for decades, have chosen the country they want to live in. About 14,000 of them living in Bangladeshi enclaves, which have now merged with India, have become Indian citizens. All the Indian enclaves were located in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district.
Barring less than 1,000 people, the rest living in Indian enclaves in Bangladesh have become Bangladeshi citizens. 111 Indian enclaves measuring 17,160 acres became Bangladesh territory. Similarly, 51 Bangladeshi enclaves measuring 7,110 acres became Indian territory.
Though no official ceremony was held, an organisation named Bharat-Bangladesh Enclave Exchange Co-ordination Committee organised a ceremony at Madhya Masaldanga enclave adjacent to Dinhata sub-division of Cooch Behar. For the first time, the residents of enclaves will get identity papers and land in their names putting an end to the agony of the residents that started in 1947 with Partition.
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