Exchange from July 31
Bangladesh and India will formally begin exchanging 162 enclaves from July 31 midnight, ending nearly seven-decade sufferings of the residents.
Launching the exchange of 111 Indian and 51 Bangladeshi enclaves, the two countries will start implementing the historic Land Boundary Agreement (LBA), which the Indian parliament ratified earlier last month.
“Bangladesh and India agree that the Bangladeshi enclaves in India and Indian enclaves in Bangladesh exchanged, pursuant to the 1974 Agreement and 2011 Protocol shall stand transferred to the other with effect from the midnight of July 31, 2015,” an official document of the foreign ministry said.
July 31 midnight has been chosen as the “Appointed Day”.
Before starting the exchange, representatives of the governments of Bangladesh and India will conduct a joint visit to the enclaves to complete the process, as outlined in the letters the two sides exchanged on the modalities for implementing the LBA.
The joint visit is meant to inform the residents of the enclaves, about their rights relating to nationality and citizenship and to identify who wish to retain the nationality prior to beginning of the exchange.
Residents included in the joint headcount of population of enclaves in July 2011 and their children born later have the rights to choose their nationality and citizenship.
The governments of India and Bangladesh agreed to ensure “orderly, safe and secure” passage to residents of enclaves along with their “personal belongings and moveable property” to the mainland of India or Bangladesh, if they wanted.
The joint visit is aimed at collecting data and photographs to issue necessary documents to an enclave resident to facilitate his or her travel to the mainland.
The option of moving from an enclave to the mainland of Bangladesh or India will take place by Nov 30, 2015 through the entry/exit points of Haldibari, Burimari and Banglabandha along the Bangladesh India border.
But the residents have to inform the district administrations before the Appointed Day about the records and specifications of immovable properties.
Both the governments will ensure the “safe custody and integrity” of land records and other immovable properties of enclave residents till the date of transfer.
The district administrations of the two governments will put these records in the public domain prior to their moving to avoid “misuse or usurpation” of such property and to enable sale by the owner.
The existing mechanism of India-Bangladesh Joint Boundary Working Group (JBWG) will finalise all further details.
The same mechanism will be used to address any issue that may arise after the transfer for the next five years till June 2020.
In regards to Adverse Possessions and Undemarcated Boundary, the ground demarcation of the boundary based on interim strip maps will be completed by June 30 and the transfer of territorial jurisdiction will end by July 31 midnight.
Dhaka and New Delhi simultaneously released the text of exchange of letters on modalities, which signed and exchanged by the foreign secretaries of the two countries in presence of the prime ministers of Bangladesh and India and the chief minister of West Bengal on June 6 in Dhaka.
The LBA was signed in May 16, 1974 and its protocol inked on September 6, 2011. Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad ratified the deal on November 27, 1974 while the Indian parliament approved it on May 9, 2015.
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