About half of a million of enclave people of Bangladesh and India living in each others' territories under untold miseries during the last 56 years have appealed to solve their issue to the international communities and United Nations. They urged the Indian government to ratify the 1974 Accord and implement the same to respect human rights and resolve the issue once for all.

According to official sources and enclavemen of both countries, enclave problem was created after partition of the sub-continent in 1947 when some Indian territories (enclaves) fell inside the then East Pakistan and some other East Pakistani territories inside India along the borders of the present Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari and Panchagarh districts.

The then Pakistani authorities initiated some efforts to exchange these enclaves in each-others' territories but the things remained as they were.

After independence of Bangladesh, the then governments of both countries signed an agreement which is generally known as "Mujib- Indira Accord" in 1974 to exchange these enclaves between the two countries as per their geographical locations.

As per the terms and conditions of the accord, the inhabitants of the enclaves of either country will be given free choice to adopt citizenship of either country during exchange of the enclaves and no side can claim any compensation if any side gains land area during the process.

To make the accord a law, both governments were to ratify the accord in their respective parliaments. Bangladesh side immediately did the same but the Indian side is yet to ratify the accord in their parliament even after 28 years of signing the international agreement which has now made the problem a cancerous one to the enclave people, officials and enclavemen said.

According to official statistics in the concerned district administrations, about 2.5 lakh Bangladeshi citizens are now living in 51 Bangladeshi enclaves with an area of 7,110 acres under the jurisdictions of Kurigram and Lalmonirhat districts inside Koochbehar district of West Bengal in India.

Similar number of Indian citizens are living in111 Indian enclaves with an area of 17,158 acres inside Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari and Panchagarh districts of Bangladesh. If the accord is implemented, Bangladesh side will become a net gainer with 10,048 acres of land.

Bangladeshi enclave people recently told BSS that they are leading miserable lives inside India during the past 56 years. They enjoy no rights ensured by the constitution of the land like education, health care, sanitation, safety and security family planning, vaccination, voting rights, legal access, patriotism for the soil and free movement to the mainland of Bangladesh.

They are living under the full control of the Indian law enforcement agencies, Border Security Forces (BSF), police, Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF), intelligence agencies, miscreants, hooligans, extortionists, terrorists, outlaws, godfathers and cadres belonging to some fundamentalist political parties and religious groups.

Presently, Indian intelligence people have put close eyes on every Bangladeshi enclavemen and BSF troops have stopped their entrance into Bangladesh mainland. "We are under siege now and we want to be free Bangladeshis. We request the UN and international communities, human rights organisations to hear our cries and woes, they said.

On the otherland, Indian enclave people are enjoying all rights living inside Bangladesh as Bangladesh authorities provide all necessary assistance to them. Dahiar Chara is one of the biggest Indian enclave with 1,743 acres area and 10,000 population situating in Fulbari upazila of Kurigram.

Panchayet Chairman Nazrul Islam, 47, citizens Fazlul Haque, 45, Noor Islam, 65, Fatema Begum, 36 , Majibar, 42, Abdul Jalil, 52, Afsar, 43, Dhirendranath, 80, of the Indian enclave recently told BSS that Indian government never looked after them and their problems. "We are getting all assistance from Bangladesh authorities and our children are getting education in Bangladeshi schools, colleges and institutes. We will adopt Bangladeshi citizenships if the accord of 1974 is implemented," they said.

Former UP member Hossain Ali, 60, Mansur Ali, 64, Chakimuddin,43, and many others of Bangladeshi enclave Moshaldanga along Kurigram border recently told BSS that they want the problem to be solved. "We want bright futures for our next generations . We dreamt a better life but it did not happen so far. We request Indian government once again to respect humanism and implement the accord. We also ask Director General of BDR and BSF who are meeting in Dhaka form April 25 next to help each other in solving our problems," they added.
--BSS