For 68 years, over 51,000 people lived inside pockets of land that belonged to one country but were physically surrounded by another. They could not access hospitals, schools, or courts. They could not leave without a visa. They could not get a visa without travelling to an embassy they had no way of reaching. They were not refugees. They were not immigrants. They were simply forgotten — by two governments, and by the world.
On 17 August 1947, the Radcliffe Line, named after its architect, Cyril Radcliffe, was drawn between India and Pakistan, which partitioned India into two major provinces: West Pakistan and East Pakistan.
As relations between India and Pakistan worsened, thousands of Indians and East Pakistanis who were scattered here and there on the borderland were suddenly trapped within their enclaves.
In 1971, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) fought against West Pakistan and gained its independence after nine months of bloodshed.
When Bangladesh got its freedom, a new problem arose from the grave.
The borders between India and Bangladesh were still somewhat unclear, even though the Radcliffe Line had been drawn. Sir Radcliff himself raised concerns over enclave issues in his report.
According to the dictionary, an Enclave means a section of territory surrounded or enclosed by a larger territory of one other state, as if within a foreign territory. In simpler form, an enclave is a piece of a country that is separated from the main part of the country.
For Bangladesh, there were a bunch of pieces of Bangladesh inside of India, and there were pieces of India inside of Bangladesh.
This video explains how the India-Bangladesh border got into a complex enclave structure.
According to a 2018 academic study on the India–Bangladesh border, it showed that Bangladesh contained 102 enclaves of Indian territory and 71 Bangladeshi enclaves inside Indian territory. The responsibilities of these enclaves fell on both their shoulder.
But all this is only the tip of the iceberg of this madness. Inside an enclave can further exist what’s called a counter or a second-order enclave.
For instance, a land that belonged to India was located completely within a village that is owned by Bangladesh. In that manner, Bangladesh contained 21 counter-enclaves, and inside of those 71 Bangladeshi enclaves in India were a further three Indian counter-enclaves.
Here is not the end of the iceberg.
As reported by The Washington Post, Dahala Khagrabari, the third-order enclave in question, was a part of India, surrounded by a Bangladeshi enclave, which was surrounded by an Indian enclave, which was surrounded by Bangladesh, making it the only third-order enclave.
This video simplifies the Dahala Khagrabari, which is the world’s only third-order enclave.
So, how are these enclaves such a problem for a country?
To set an example, if someone tries to walk in a straight line of a few hundred meters across the enclaves, he will begin in India, then Bangladesh, then India, then Bangladesh, then India, then Bangladesh, then India, and finally Bangladesh.
Additionally, a question arises on the sufferings of these enclaves’ residents as reported by The Indian Express.
A joint census in 2010 found 51,549 people residing in these enclaves: 37,334 in Indian enclaves within Bangladesh and 14,215 in Bangladeshi enclaves within India.
Then why wouldn’t these enclave residents leave their enclaves to live in India?
The government couldn’t rectify it because of a major problem.
To provide these services for all of these enclaves was pretty weird and challenging. Because if someone wanted to leave their enclave, they would be asked for a visa first, and to get the visa, they would have to visit their own embassy.
Thus, without a visa, they wouldn’t be able to travel to their country to ask for a visa. In conclusion, they were indirectly forcefully confined.
In 1974, Bangladesh was involved in new talks to fix its border with India. The governments of India and Bangladesh signed a treaty that would exchange their enclaves with one another and generally tidy up their border.
In May 1974, Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi signed the LBA (Land Boundary Agreement).
The Daily Star reported that Bangladesh ratified the Agreement in 1974, but India held back the process, saying it would require a constitutional amendment to implement the Agreement.
Actually, the assassination of Sheikh Mujib in 1975 created a tremendous trust deficit between Delhi and Dhaka that took its toll on resolving bilateral problems.
However, a new LBA agreement was signed later on.
The Daily Star writer Hasan stated that after dilly-dallying for 41 years, the Indian Parliament finally passed the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) Bill on May 7, 2015.
This video exhibits the diplomatic agreement between India and Bangladesh 2015 enclave exchange agreement.
Report by The Hindustan Times, Enclaves were finally exchanged between Bangladesh and India on Friday midnight, along with thousands of acres of land.
Roughly one year later, in 2016, each of those 51000 residents was given the choice of either Indian or Bangladeshi citizenship.
Nearly 1000 people opted to keep their Indian nationalities, though the majority opted for Bangladeshi citizenship.
Altogether 14,856 residents of these enclaves turned Indian, putting an end to an agony that started in 1947 with the Partition.
These very enclaves do not always cover the news headlines. The suffering of 68 years cannot be spoken with minimal words.
For decades, they were shackled with deprivation and inexistence. With the two countries’ acknowledgement, they have gained a new identity, a new nationality of their choice.
Many remained Bangladeshi, continuing a peaceful life, while others had broken the shackles and adapted to their new existence.
This is an exceptional audiobook by Azmeary Ferdoush, where she has put a historical perspective of the enclaves through a broader perspective.
