Enclave people seeking Indian citizenship to get ID cards Sep 7-8

As part of Land Boundary Agreement, India is going to distribute Temporary Travel – cum- Identity Passes among former enclave dwellers, who opted for its nationality.

The Indian high commission in Dhaka along with its assistant high commission in Rajshahi will distribute the passes at special camps located in Panchagarh, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram on Monday and Tuesday.

As per the understanding reached between India and Bangladesh, all the identified Indian nationals will finally cross over to India through designated Check Posts by November 30, 2015.

The first camp at Debiganj upazila rest house in Panchagarh will be inaugurated by Pankaj Saran, high commissioner of India in Bangladesh, at 10:00am on Monday.

Ending decades of wait, 51 Bangladeshi enclaves inside Indian territory and 111 Indian enclaves inside Bangladesh were attached to their respective countries at midnight on July 31. With this, about 40,000 people got identity in their states.

According to the Indo-Bangla joint survey report disclosed on July 20, no dweller of the 51 enclaves in Indian territory wants to come to Bangladesh while just 979 residents of the 111 enclaves inside Bangladesh were willing to go to India. 

On July 30, the high commissioners of the two countries signed 30 boundary strip maps in Dhaka.

The historic Land Boundary Agreement between Bangladesh and India was signed by Bangabandhu Shiekh Mujibur Rahman and Indira Gandhi in 1974.