Bangladesh and India are neighbouring countries with a shared history and common cultural and linguistic ties. Although all countries in the world have some inter-state problems at one level or another, the enclave problem between Bangladesh and India is unique in its complex and unresolved nature.
The Bangladesh-India enclave issue is usually always highlighted in political or territorial terms, but its impact is felt more as a human rights and socio-economics related problem.
An enclave is defined as “a portion of territory entirely surrounded by a larger (foreign) territory.’’ There are 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh and 51 Bangladeshi enclaves in India. The Indian enclaves within Bangladesh amount to 17,149 acres and Bangladeshi enclaves within India amount to 7,110 acres. A joint head count conducted in July 2011 found 37,334 persons living in Indian enclaves in Bangladesh and 14,215 persons in Bangladeshi enclaves in India.
Over 50,000 people living on both sides of the India-Bangladesh border have in effect been treated as “stateless citizens” since 1947 as a result of these enclaves. Their suffering and lack of access to some basic human rights is not often considered. In addition to restricted freedom of movement, unnecessary harassment by BSF and BGB and trade barriers, the enclave populations have limited economic opportunities and poor education and medical facilities.
The genesis of this problem lies in the hurried drawing up of partition boundaries by Sir Cyril Radcliffe in 1947. The adversely located territories of the Rajah of Cooch Behar and the Maharaja of Rangpur were not demarcated. After the partition of Bengal in 1947, Rangpur joined East Pakistan, and Cooch Behar merged with India in 1949. This is still causing problems for residents today.
While both states have undertaken numerous initiatives with regard to this problem, solutions mostly remain only on paper. The then Pakistan government signed what is called the Nehru-Noon Agreement with India as early as 1958. The Nehru-Noon treaty of 1958 sought a solution which is still being sought today, to solve the enclave problem through an exchange of lands. But this agreement did not see light of day because of mutual distrust.
After the independence of Bangladesh, another attempt to resolve the issue was made in 1974. The enclave issue was included under sections 12 and 14 of the 1974 land boundary agreement. In this agreement, a full exchange enclaves was agreed upon. But again we did not see its implementation. Although the Bangladesh government quickly ratified this agreement in parliament, to this day, the Indian government is yet to ratify that agreement.
In a more recent attempt to resolve the issue in September 2011, the Prime Ministers of the two countries, Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh and Manmohan Singh of India signed an accord on border demarcation agreeing an exchange of adversely held enclaves. However, the Indian parliament is still to ratify it due to internal political debates.
Under the proposed agreement, enclave residents could continue to reside at their present location or move to the country of their choice. Until it is ratified and implemented, people in the enclaves remain in a form of legal and physical isolation.
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of human rights states that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and right. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”
In this age of globalisation, more should be done by the respective governments to fulfil their responsibility to fulfil this fundamental obligation and to reduce the problems experienced by long suffering residents of enclaves.