People living in Indian enclaves in Panchagarh yesterday submitted a memorandum to the Indian envoy to Bangladesh, demanding that the enclave exchange deal be ratified in the upcoming session of the Indian parliament.
The local unit of Panchagarh-Nilphamari Bangladesh-India Enclaves Exchange Coordination Committee submitted the memorandum through the Panchagarh deputy commissioner, Mohammad Salahuddin.
The enclave people in the memorandum urged the Indian high commissioner to lobby his government for ratifying the enclave exchange agreement, which was signed on September 6, 2011, to resolve the longstanding issue.
President of the committee’s Panchagarh unit, Mofizar Rahman, and several other enclave leaders were present when the memorandum was submitted.
There are 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh, including 59 in Lalmonirhat, 36 in Panchagarh, 12 in Kurigram and four in Nilphamari, while 51 Bangladeshi enclaves are located in Cooch Behar in the Indian state of West Bengal.
The Indian enclaves in Bangladesh stretch across 17,149 acres of land while the Bangladeshi enclaves in India occupy 7,110 acres.
A joint census in July 2011 found that a total of 37,334 people were living in Indian enclaves in Bangladesh and 14,215 people in the Bangladeshi enclaves in India.
