Such a day has never come for them before, when they finally get to sing “Amar Shonar Bangla, Ami Tomay Bhalobasi” to celebrate the Victory Day of a land where they lived practically like foreigners for four and a half decades.
The 39,000 or so residents of the 111 former Indian exclaves in Bangladesh yesterday celebrated their first Victory Day, something that they have seen their friends do every year and something that they did not have the right to until a few months ago.
All dwellers of the former exclave in Panchagarh yesterday gathered at Garati, which was previously part of India but now a Bangladeshi territory, to celebrate their first Victory Day.
They sang the national anthem merrily and hoisted the red and green flag with their heads held high – for the first time on the 44th anniversary of the country’s victory in the Liberation War against the Pakistanis.
Men and women, children and old alike, the new Bangladeshis put on colourful dresses and were joined by thousands of old Bangladeshis from the nearby villages.
Grameenphone and Channel i organised the festivities for them and Asaduzzaman Noor, cultural affairs minister, and Tarana Halim, state minister for post and telecommunication, joined the event to congratulate the new citizens of Bangladesh.
Faizul Haque, 75, a first-hand witness of the Liberation War, has many memories to share from 1971.
“The Khans [the name local people used to refer to Pakistani soldiers in 1971] attacked us. They did not distinguish between Bangladeshis and exclave residents. Many of our sisters and daughters were raped by the Pakistani soldiers,” said Faizul.
“Our family had no other options but to cross the border and take shelter in the Berubari area of India,” he said.
Another participant of yesterday’s celebrations, Jasim, 70, used to work as an informer for the freedom fighters. But his family too had to move to India to save their lives.
“I and others used to give information to the freedom fighters about the locations of the Khans.
“After the Liberation War, we came back home and Bangladesh was an independent country. It is true that the land we lived in was not Bangladeshi territory. But, it was the place we were born in,” Jasim said.
This correspondent then met Asiya Khatun, 80, who had faced harassment in the hands of the Pakistanis.
“The Khans abused many women at that time. We left our home and went to a remote place so that the Khans could not reach us,” Asiya said.
The children have not seen the war, but the day was no less special for them.
“We lived in the exclaves but we were not animals. But some local people used to insult us by calling us ‘chhit’ [a local word for exclave] people,” said Laboni Laila, a fifth grader at the Yarpara Government Primary School.
“Now we are Bangladeshis, no one can call us chhit people anymore,” the girl said.
Laboni dreams of becoming a doctor someday and help former exclave dwellers like her by offering free treatment and also work for the development of the area, which has remained neglected for so many years because of the strange geopolitical status.
Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor, who joined the Victory Day celebrations yesterday, said: “For the first time, the people of the former exclaves of Panchagarh and other districts are celebrating the Victory Day along with the entire country.
“I call upon them to also become a part of the development of this country just like they are participating in the celebrations today.”
Elsewhere, in the neighbouring district of Lalmonirhat, the residents of the 59 former exclaves had their own Victory Day celebrations. The new Bangladeshis in the district gathered at Bhitarkuti.
Festivities began by hoisting the national flag in front of a temporary Shaheed Minar. This followed a discussion and a feast.