India and Bangladesh: Enclaves Dispute

06 May, 2001    ·   493

Alok Kumar Gupta and Saswati Chanda present a profile of the enclaves dispute between India and Bangladesh
Alok Kumar Gupta
India and Bangladesh share a 4096 km-long border. Of this, 180 kms lies along the river line. The delimitation of the Indo-Bangladesh border is not complete as 6.5km stretch near Comilla in on the Tripura border is yet to be demarcated. A dispute exists between the two countries along various sections of the border. Consequently, unprovoked firing along the border continues, and escalates occasionally to draw the attention of higher administrative levels.

 

 

Issues in contention

 

 

The major bone of contention is the adverse location of enclaves. There are 111 Indian enclaves (locally known as Chits) in Bangladesh territory covering 17,258.24 acres. On the other side, and there are 51 Bangladesh enclaves in Indian territory , measuring 7,083.72 acres. Of these disputed enclaves, 65 are along the West Bengal-Bangladesh border (35 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh territory and 31 in reverse).

 

 

The border between Bangladesh and India is defined along fixed lines. In some cases, they pass through the middle of common rivers. It is a misconception that if the river shifts, then the line separating the two countries will also move, conforming to the centerline of the common river. Thus, if the river erodes on the Indian side, people living on the Bangladesh side think that they have the right to occupy and use the newly accreted land contiguous to Bangladesh . In fact, this land belongs to India . Consequently, conflicts break out between border communities living on both sides of these shifting common rivers. Examples of this type of dispute are found when the Ganges river shifts its course in a random manner leading to disputes about the newly formed island (locally called a Char).

 

 

Similarly, a river eroding on the Bangladesh side leaves a part of Bangladeshi land contiguous to India and leads to a dispute. The Kusiyara river (a branch of the Barak river in India ) erosion case is an example of this type of problem. The other disputes of this nature are Ichamati, Gumti, Feni, Muhuri etc. The other problem is that there are areas, which are on the Indian side, but the demographic character reveals that these areas belong to Bangladesh . As for example there are same football grounds along the border where, one goalpost is on the Indian side and the other on the Bangladesh side.

 

 

The residents of the disputed enclaves suffer from a serious identity problem. Neither country acknowledges these residents as nationals of their country nor do they bestow upon them voting and other rights. These people are therefore stateless.

 

 

 

 

Background to the Dispute

 

 

The problem of enclaves is a legacy of the dissipated life styles of the rulers of two former princely—of Cooch Behar in North Bengal and Rongpur in South Bengal (present day Bangladesh ). The Rajas of the two princely states routinely staked pieces of their estates over a game of cards, and thus came to acquire pockets of land in each other’s territory. The lands were pledged on piece of paper known as ‘chits’ and hence, these lands are still called ‘chits’. The ownership of these enclaves devolved upon India and East Pakistan after partition in 1947. Sir Cyril Radcliffe drew the dividing line as the parties involved failed to arrive at any agreed border. He was concerned with not disturbing the ‘railway communications and river systems’ rather than the issue of enclaves. 

 

 

This issue was not resolved till 1971, when East Pakistan became Bangladesh , and inherited the problem. The residents of these enclaves were initially free to move to their respective mainland. But increase in tension between India and Pakistan led to this movement being restricted, and problems arising in trade and transit. There has been no administration in these enclaves for the last 50 years. Hence, no police, no revenue, no taxation, and no government services are available. Over the years, the Bengali Muslims in the enclaves in India have migrated to other parts of the state ( West Bengal ), and the Hindus in the Indian enclaves inside Bangladesh have migrated to India . 

 

 

Bangladesh ’s Perception

 

 

Bangladesh has been demanding a number of measures by India , to mitigate the border problem. They are: 

 

 

·                     Ensure free movement of enclave people;

 

 

·                     Permit exchange of enclave people;

 

 

·                     Undertake necessary measures for demarcation of the border line;

 

 

·                     Refrain from pushing Bengali speaking Indian nationals into Bangladesh territory; 

 

 

·                     Adopt methods to check violation of the border by Indian civilians and BSF members;

 

 

·                     Ban smuggling of Phensidyl (an intoxicating chemical) and drugs;

 

 

·                     India should ratify the Indira-Mujib Agreement (1974) to facilitate the demarcation of the remaining part of the border.

 

 

The demarcation of the unmarked 6.5kms of the border has been pending because of the concerns of the Hindu population living in the lands likely to go to Bangladesh after demarcation. Land will have to be found to resettle them before the final demarcation. The enclave problem has been pending because the Indian nationals in possession of Bangladesh land have to be resettled before the land is finally ceded. Since West Bengal, Assam and Tripura (the three states having a common border with Bangladesh ) have no surplus land, this is difficult to resolve to the satisfaction of the parties concerned. 

 

 

The Bangladeshi officials maintain (as observed by the Director-General of BDR, Maj. Gen. Azizur Rahman) that the absence of ratification of the 1974 treaty by India is the root cause of the disputes along the 4096 km-long border between India and Bangladesh. While Bangladesh claims that it is prepared to complete the demarcation work, India has kept this dispute alive under various pretexts. India has not ratified the agreement on the plea that the demarcation of the border had not yet been completed. 

 

 

 

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