These enclaves, home to approximately 50,000 people, were created through local peace treaties during the 17 hundreds. We have sat on hunger strike and finally we have gained independence.
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For 106-year-old Mohammad Asgar Ali, it is a life of uncertainty ahead.
But that was undivided India, and the stakes got scattered over what would come up as borders between first, India and Pakistan, and then Bangladesh.
The inhabitants – about 37,330 in Indian enclaves and 14,200 in Bangladeshi enclaves – were deprived of public services because they had no defined citizenship. The map he’s showing me is a land record dating back to 1931, the last time these lands were surveyed.
The neighbours of the couple said Marina left as her husband was forcing her to settle in India.
The deal was originally agreed on in 1974 after Bangladesh fought to break away from Pakistan. “But none from India”.
According to the agreement, 51 Bangladeshi enclaves situated at Indian soil in Coochbehar District of West Bengal amalgamated with India, while 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladeshi territory integrated with that country when the clock struck 12 at night.
“The 68 candles mark our 68 years of endless pain since 1947 and the agonies and poverty we faced living in no-man’s land“, said Golam Mostafa, who lives in an Indian enclave in the Bangladesh district of Kurigram.
The adoption of the enclaves will, however, not see an end to illegal immigration from Bangladesh to India, believe experts. “Only some concrete pillars mark which part is Bangladesh and which is India”, Alam said. Today, we have become really independent. There is sound cause to hope the LBA will lead to improved border management and help transform our mutual boundary into a peaceful area, free of any border killings. Residents will get to choose their citizenship, so a year of gradual relocations begins now.
They live in squalid conditions. But it will also rip apart families like Barman’s, leaving some stranded on one side of the border while relatives relocate to the other.
In Poaturkuthi’s main square, a group of residents are seated under a tree engaged in an animated discussion. “We’re the only Hindus surrounded by Muslims on all sides”, he said, referring to Mashaldanga, which spreads across eight villages.
“There’s going to be a celebration and the Indian flag is going to be raised”, he says. “And I will become part of history”.
But the villagers have more pressing matters to discuss.
Debiganj chief government administrator Shafiqul Islam said 42 people had made such last-minute applications, and their fate would now be decided by Dhaka and New Delhi. “What about a school? They will now get jobs”. Dinhata SDO Krishnabha Ghosh said people would be temporarily issued multiple entry visas to allow them visitation rights to the country whose nationality they have opted for.
It is a bit off key and they stumble through the phrases coaxed gently by a couple of teachers.
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“I have already written to the Union Home Ministry that security in coordination with IB, BSF and state police should be strengthened so that anti-national elements can’t use this as an opportunity”. They have been denied everything that a state can give its citizens, starting with identity.
