Despite spending 50 years of his life surrounded by Bangladeshi culture, exclave resident Khalilur Rahman has decided to move to the Indian mainland because he believes the prospects for earning a living are better there than in Bangladesh.
Khalilur belongs to a minority of Indian exclave dwellers who are opting not to remain in Bangladesh, mostly because they already enjoy strong economic ties, mostly through work, to India.
For Khalilur, the decision to opt for the Indian mainland comes down to a question of economic opportunity. Khalilur believes Indian nationality will enable him to have a higher standard of living then what Bangladesh has to offer.
Khalilur’s family has lived in Dasiar Chhara in Kurigram district for generations. As a result of an oddity of the international land boundary between Bangladesh and India, his ancestral home fell within an Indian exclave surrounded by Bangladeshi territory.
After the recently signed Land Boundary Agreement decided to allow each side to absorb the pockets of foreign land into their respective territories, the inhabitants of the exclaves were given the right to choose which country to go with.
This means that they can elect to remain where they are – taking on the nationality of the country their exclave was within – or retain their de jure identity and move across the new border to the country of which, until the accord was signed, their exclave was a sovereign part.
Khalilur and others in his community who are opting for India also brought up the Felani murder, saying that border killings by Indian soldiers of Bangladeshi nationals undermined their confidence in the Bangladesh government’s ability to protect their lives and security.
“Many Bangladeshis are in Indian prisons but the Bangladesh government has not made any effort to free or transfer them. What will they do for me if I ever fall into danger?” Khalilur asked.
“While many Bangladeshis work illegally in India, no Indian needs to work in Bangladesh. So I think it is better to live under the Indian government,” Khalilur told the Dhaka Tribune.
Khalilur Rahman currently works in a crop field in India, crossing the nearest border of the exclave into Indian territory every day.
Maidul Islam, 30, another resident of Dasiar Chhara who works in an Indian crop field, hopes to live in India because there is little work available in Bangladesh. “I want to go to India not only for work but also for the future of my child.”
“If we, the people of the exclaves, could not work in India, we would have starved,” he said.
Another exclave resident, Mizanur Rahman Mizan, 40, works in India and wants to settle there with his entire family, including his four brothers.
Many people living in Dasiar Chhara work in crop fields, brick fields and various Indian companies.
Around 300 of the 10,000 residents of the exclave are opting for India. All of those who want to live in India are already working there.
For a few, the decision was less economic than political.
Monmohon Barman, 60, is opting for India because his forefathers lived there.
“I work in a crop field in India and I have lived on Indian land since birth,” said Barman. “So, I want to hold Indian nationality.”
A joint survey began in Bangladesh and India on July 6 to record the choice of nationality of 51,584 people in 162 exclaves in each other’s territories ahead of the exclave exchange on July 31 next.
Just 779 residents of the 111 Indian exclaves in Bangladesh opted to go to India while none of the residents of the Bangladeshi exclaves in India intend to come to Bangladesh, according to the joint Bangladesh-India survey report.
According to the report, there are 44,500 people in the 111 Indian exclaves in Bangladesh. There are 14,500 residents in the 51 Bangladeshi exclaves on the Indian side.
Of the 779 residents of the Indian exclaves opting for India, 163 are Muslim, according to Md Habibur Rahman, deputy commissioner of Lalmonirhat.