India and Bangladesh to exchange enclaves

New Delhi: On the visit of India Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh to Bangladesh, India and Bangladesh are going to sign an agreement on the exchange of enclaves in adverse possession and boundary demarcation for the safety of both the countries.

The agreement on differentiation of the border and exchange of enclaves, over which the two sides had attained an accord in 1974, will cover 111 enclaves in India and 51 on the other side in which about 51,000 people reside. The people in the enclaves will be given the right to continue to reside there itself or choose the country of residence, it is learnt.

A joint headcount in one or two enclaves was on even today, giving the final touches to the exercise. One of the enclaves falls in Bangladesh’s leader of the opposition Begum Khaleda Zia’s parliamentary constituency. The Prime Minister will be escorted by chief ministers of five states bordering Bangladesh, which will be first of its kind.

They will be Tarun Gogoi (Assam), Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Manik Sarkar (Tripura), Lal Thanhawla (Mizoram) and Mukul Sangma (Mehalaya). National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon was in Dhaka for two days on Sunday and Monday to tie up the Prime Minister’s visit. The feeling in the Foreign Office here is that Bangladesh is warm to Indian moves for building on its close relationship in which Khaleda Zia of BNP is also on board. She may also be conference the Prime Minister during the visit.

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