Enclave residents ask Bangladeshi citizenship
Enclave residents ask Bangladeshi citizenship | BDINN.com
Sep 11, 2011
Bangladesh’s stateless people demand
Virtually stateless residents of several Indian enclaves in Bangladesh have kept their homes in dark at night in an unusual protest to demand implementation of an agreement giving them Bangladeshi citizenship.
Thousands of people in the enclaves also marched in the streets Saturday before refusing to light lamps at home in an attempt to draw the attention of authorities, protest organizer Mofizar Rahman said.
A similar “night without lights” protest will take place Sunday, he said.
People of the Indian enclaves’ inside Bangladesh territory yesterday began their two-day ‘Nishprodip Raat Japon’ (spending night without lighting lamps) programme demanding early implementation of the enclave exchange deal between Bangladesh and India.
Over one thousand people including women and children brought out a procession at Garati enclave adjacent to Haibhasha and Hafizabad unions under Panchagarh Sadar upazila yesterday demanding immediate solution to their problem, reports our Thakurgaon correspondent.
“From today [Saturday] evening all the enclave people inside Panchagarh district will refrain from lighting lamps for two nights as part of ‘Nishprodip Raat Japan’ programme as the enclave exchange deal signed on Tuesday by India and Bangladesh did not mention any specific time frame for its implementation,” Mofizar Rahman, a leader of the residents of Garati enclave, said at a discussion after the procession.
“We want to be Bangladeshi citizens. The governments of India and Bangladesh should feel the pain of the enclave people and start the exchange procedure soon. Otherwise, we will launch tougher movement,” he said.
Earlier on Thursday evening, leaders of India-Bangladesh Enclave Exchange Coordination Committee in Panchagarh suspended a fast-unto-death programme of enclave people in Bangladesh for seven days following request from the district administration.
One hundred and eleven Indian enclaves inside Bangladesh are situated in Panchagarh, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram and Nilphamari districts while all the 51 Bangladeshi enclaves are in Indian Cooch Behar district.
To observe the two-day ‘Nishprodip Raat Japan’ programme, the female members in the enclaves yesterday prepared to have all their cooking as well as eating complete during the daytime. They will do the same today.
On Wednesday, the residents observed a half-day hunger strike in Indian enclave Dashiar Chhara in Phulbari upazila of the district on the enclave exchange deal issue.
“We are observing the programme in all the 111 Indian enclaves. We want a specific time for early implementation of the enclave exchange deal signed between Bangladesh and India,” Md Golam Mostafa, general secretary of Bangladesh unit of India-Bangladesh Enclave Exchange Coordination Committee, told this correspondent yesterday.
“We will continue various programmes until achieving success,” he added
There are 111 Indian enclaves inside Bangladesh and 51 Bangladeshi ones insideIndia with a combined population of 51,000, a legacy of fighting between 18th century kingdoms and some absurd map drawing during the 1947 partition of theIndian subcontinent.
The enclave residents have no official right to receive government jobs. They live without basic health and are also deprived of facilities such as subsidized food and free primary education. They have been compared to stateless people because no country takes responsibility for them.
On Tuesday, during a visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the two South Asian nations signed a protocol to resolve the enclave issue . No details were given, but Singh said the issue would be resolved without dislocating people, indicating that the two countries would absorb the enclaves in their territories and give its residents citizenship.
But the agreement did not outline a timeframe.
“We want Bangladesh and India to immediately solve the problem and give us citizenship,” Rahman told The Associated Press by phone.
“We have no country, the governments should feel the pain. We want a specific timeframe to get the job done,” he said.
Most of the residents of the enclaves inside Bangladesh are Muslims and they already have a social life with Bangladeshi people. They want to be part of Bangladesh.
Although they are officially stateless, they regularly walk over to Bangladeshi areas for work without hindrance. Saturday’s protest march was held in Panchgarh town in Bangladesh, which adjoins some of the enclaves. The town is 215 miles (344 kilometers) north of the capital, Dhaka.
Daily Star/Associated Press