Census starts in Indian and Bangladeshi enclaves

Sheikh Hasina and Monmohan Singh are expected to discuss the enclaves in September

Census-taking has started in India and Bangladesh's enclaves as on Thursday 14th July, ahead of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Bangladesh.

Enclaves are pieces of land detached from a country's main territory and surrounded by foreign land. India has 111 enclaves inside Bangladesh and Bangladesh has 51 Bangladesh enclaves inside India.

Folklore has it that the enclaves resulted from the losses incurred by the Maharaja of Cooch Behar and the Mughal Faujdar of Rangpur gambling on pieces of land during chess matches.

 

Historians, however, believe the situation came out of peace treaties between the kingdom of Cooch Behar, now in the Indian state of West Bengal and the Mughal Empire, which ruled much of South Asia, according to the Times of India.

The current census, which is expected to take a week to complete, is the first of its kind since 1971, when Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan.

In 1974, Bangladesh's prime minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman signed a pact with his Indian counterpart Indira Gandhi to exchange the enclaves. The agreement was never followed through on, and poor bilateral relations has meant that the enclave issue remains unresolved.

The enclaves remain hugely underdeveloped, with its inhabitants often lacking access to running water, electricity, health, education and security facilities. In reality, the enclaves inhabitants are largely stateless. They formed the Bharat Bangladesh Enclave Exchange Coordination Committee (BBEECC) to agitate for greater rights, and have carried out a number of limited censuses.

The 2011 census will be carried out by 56 teams working in Bangladeshi enclaves and 91 teams in Indian enclaves. Each team is made up of one official from each country.

The number of people in the enclaves is estimate to range from 150,000 to 300,000, although even with this new, focussed survey, getting an exact number of residents will be difficult.

BBEECC's leader Diptiman Sengupta welcomed the initiative, but warned the difficulties the census-takers will face. "Both governments will have to be aware that touts are active to register intruder's name in the list. Similarly, there are several people who reside outside for a living. And several families have lost their land in river bank erosion. Officials will have to take necessary action to sort out these problems to get a genuine account."

Regardless of the technical difficulties the census officials may encounter, the process is undoubtedly a positive step forward for those who live in the enclaves. Singh is due to visit Dhaka in September, and it is thought that he might sign an agreement on the enclaves with his Bangladeshi counterpart, Sheikh Hasina. It is thought that some of the smaller enclaves may be swapped.

It is understood that residents of the enclave will be allowed to chose which country to be resident of when the enclaves are finally swapped.

Sources: AFP, Times of India

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.

China and India agree to restore defence ties, despite border dispute

Indian PM Singh (L) and Chinese PM Wen in 2008

India and China have agreed to restore defence ties after meetings between Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao on Monday 11th April.

Defence ties were suspended last year after China refused a visa to a Kashmir-based general. In July 2010, Northern Army Commander Lt Gen BS Jaswal was prevented from joining a delegation to Beijing because he served in Jammu and Kashmir.

China and India have a number of long running border disputes, but both sides agreed to work together to resolve tensions along their 3,500km long shared border.

Two areas are disputed. Aksai Chin is administered by China as part of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, however India claims it as part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Arunachal Pradesh, a state in the far northeast of India is also disputed, and China claims that it is a part of South Tibet.

The two sides fought a brief border war in 1962, and several rounds of talks over the border in the past few years have made little real progress. India remains suspicious of China's ties to Pakistan, and both sides seem largely unwilling to compromise on territorial questions. Despite this, ties have been relatively strong in recent years, and China is now India's largest trading partner.

Speaking on Wednesday 14th April, India's National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon said the two sides would set up a consultation mechanism for the border dispute.

"This will handle important border affairs relating to maintaining peace and tranquility," Menon said, though he added that "in practice it is one of the most peaceful borders that we have."

Menon said that a multi-command Indian Army delegation would visit China later in the year, likely in June, and suggested joint exercises could be held at some point in the future.

The two countries have also agreed to boost economic ties, and address the currently assymetrical trade relationship. Menon said of Singh, "The PM spoke of taking our relationship to a higher level, focusing more on cross-investment, and also spoke of China providing better market access for Indian exports, particularly in IT, pharmaceuticals, agricultural products and in the engineering sectors."

Singh is in China as part of a formal summit of the “BRICS” countries, which along with China and India includes Brazil, Russia and South Africa. The summit is being held in Sanya, southern China on 14th April.

Sources: BBC News, Xinhua, Economic Times, International Business Times

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.

India and Bangladesh prepare for land swap as relations improve

India's FM SM Krishna with Bangladesh's FM Dipu Moni in 2009

India and Bangladesh are getting close to solving one aspect of their protracted territory conflict. The two south Asian neighbours are preparing for a land swap of enclaves, or pieces of land which lie in each other’s territory.

The enclaves are pieces of land that the Raja of Cooch Behar and Maharaja of Rangpur won or lost in gambling and military action during the colonial period. After independence in 1947, Cooch Behar became part of India’s West Begal province, while Rangpur became part of East Pakistan, later Bangladesh. It was left to the governments of India and Pakistan to determine which country the enclaves belonged to. Soon after Bangladesh’s independence in 1971, a pact was drawn up between New Delhi and Dhaka to exchange these territories, but it has not happened.

Currently, neither the police nor developmental agencies can enter these enclaves on either side of the border. As a result, they are grossly-underdeveloped, lacking in basic infrastructure and education facilities. A report in India’s Frontline journal called the residents of these areas 'nowhere people' because they are, to all intents and purposes, not citizens of any country.

India has 111 enclaves, or nearly 17,000 acres of land with Bangladesh, while Bangladesh has 51 enclaves of 7,000 acres within India, according to India’s NDTV news agency.

Since India has more land in Bangladesh than vice-versa, India stands to lose about 10,000 acres of land. As such, India's Cabinet Committee on Security will have to approve the exchange.

The two nations will also undertake a count of residents in these enclaves, the first since 1971. Officials from each side are expected to visit their enclaves and residents on both sides will be given the option of which country they want to live in.

The land swap should be hugely beneficial for the people living in the areas, as they will gain better access to amenities, services and policing. The land swap is also expected to de-escalate India’s border conflict with Bangladesh.

Both sides are working to reduce the border tension, and Indian external affairs minister SM Krishna held a meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart Dipu Moni on Monday 7th February, when they were both in Bhutan for a meeting of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) foreign ministers.

Krishna gave his assurances that India’s Border Security Force (BSF) will not shoot at Bangladeshis crossing the border. The issue of BSF shootings has been prominent since a 7th January incident in which a teenage girl who was crossing the border with her family was shot dead by the BSF.

The Bangladeshi human rights group Odhikar claims that over 1,000 people have been shot dead by the BSF since 2001. The BSF says its men shoot in self defence, as intruders often include armed men engaging in smuggling humans, cattle, arms and drugs.

Along with the enclave swap, the two sides have also had a breakthrough on water issues, and they have agreed to a 15-year accord on sharing the waters of the Teesta and Feni rivers.

Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh is also expected to visit Bangladesh after the end of the monsoon season. India-Bangladesh relations have been improving since the Awami League-led government took power in Dhaka, but border issues remain the main sticking point.

Sources: Frontline, NDTV, The Hindu, The Economic Times

For more information, see the Menas Borders website, here.