Indo-Bangla meet next month likely

The Joint Boundary Working Group of Bangladesh and India is expected to meet next month to comprehensively address all outstanding land boundary disputes.
Highly placed sources said officials are working to implement various decisions and fulfil commitments made by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi in January.
They said, during Sheikh Hasina's India visit on January 10-13, both the countries came to an agreement to address the land boundary issues keeping the spirit of the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement.
“The joint boundary group will meet either on July or August to resolve the boundary disputes between the two countries,” India's Home Secretary GK Pillai said in New Delhi on Friday.
However, Bangladesh side was ready to convene the meeting much earlier, officials said.
Officials of foreign and home ministries here are hopeful that the Joint Boundary Working Group will resolve issues related to adverse possessions, enclaves and the un-demarcated areas, Pillai said.
Bangladesh and India have a long porous border of around 4,098 kilometers. Bangladesh expects India to ratify the Mujib-Indira Land Boundary Agreement soon, and it stressed the need for demarcating 6.5 km of border.
According to an official estimation, at present there is 551.8 acres of Bangladesh land under adverse possession of India, while 226.81 acres of India land under adverse possession of Bangladesh.
The issue of adverse possession traces back to the mid-1960s when East Pakistan and India demarcated the international boundary.
The officials also said some 110 enclaves are situated inside Bangladesh territory and 55 enclaves in Indian territory.