Indian border 'stateless' demand citizenship rights
Sunday 11 September 2011
Latest in Asia
Related articles
On Facebook
From the blogs
Disclosure: We’d never even been to a club when we made our first single
For most of us, reaching eighteen years of age opens up a new world for exploration, spontaneity and...
Top of the posts: Drunken rants, the Western Fail and misogyny pushers
The most read blogs this week, as determined by stats.
Sepp Blatter: Penalty shoot-outs must remain, they’re football’s great leveller
As England supporters, we should scorn at any such deciding factor within football. On so many occas...
Why do some men consider the street as a female meat market?
Pronouncements on sexual inequality in the UK are normally met with an eye roll by my generation. As...
Hundreds of effectively stateless people trapped in enclaves on either side of the border between India and Bangladesh are demanding the immediate implementation of an agreement to allow them to receive citizenship.
The residents of a total of 111 Indian enclaves located inside Bangladesh have been marching and declining to light their lamps at their homes for two days in a show of anger about the details of a recent undertaking agreed between the two countries to address the anomaly. People in 51 Bangladeshi enclaves inside India are also unhappy.
Since 1947, the people have been likened to stateless people because the authorities on neither side of the border has displayed a willingness to take responsibility for them. They have no official right to receive government jobs. They live without basic health and are also deprived of facilities such as subsidised food and free primary education.
Last week, when Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh travelked to Bangladesh, the two countries signed a new protocol to resolve the long-standing issue. No details were given but Mr Singh said the matter would be dealt with without forcing people to move, suggesting the two countries would absorb the enclaves in their territories and give its residents citizenship.
But what has angered the estimated 50,000 people affected by the anomaly is that the agreement contained no fixed timetable for action.
During their demonstrations this weekend, residents demanded that the protocol proceed straight away. Protest organiser Mofizar Rahman told the Associated Press: “We want Bangladesh and India to immediately solve the problem and give us citizenship. We have no country, the governments should feel the pain. We want a specific timeframe to get the job done.”
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 and although they are officially stateless, they regularly enter Bangladeshi areas for work without hindrance.
Two years ago, Time magazine reported that Indian border security guards on duty there said the enclaves dated back to the time when the areas were part of princely states, controlled by the Raja of Cooch Behar and the Nawab of Rangpur. The two rulers that faced each other near the Teesta River, staked games of chess with plots of land. To settle their debts, they passed chits back and forth. In 1947 when Sir
Cyril Radcliffe drew up the border between what would be an independent India and a newly created Pakistan, those enclaves were passed to the respective new nations.
- 1 Mark Zuckerberg saved $111m by selling Facebook shares before stock slumped
- 2 Brazil rocked by abortion for 9-year-old rape victim
- 3 News in pictures
- 4 Tory chief Warsi failed to declare rent income from flat
- 5 In pictures: The bewildering face of China
- 6 Osborne to face questions over links to Murdoch
- 7 Facebook: The shares shenanigans
- 8 Is Ridley Scott the most macho man in movies?
- 9 Günter Grass attacks Merkel for Athens policy
- 10 Exclusive dispatch: Assad blamed for massacre of the innocents
- 1 Mark Zuckerberg saved $111m by selling Facebook shares before stock slumped
- 2 Brazil rocked by abortion for 9-year-old rape victim
- 3 Fat? Really? Olympic hope laughs off official’s jibe – but others aren’t amused
- 4 Is Ridley Scott the most macho man in movies?
- 5 Postgraduate students are being used as 'slave labour'
- 6 'Hello mum, this is going to be hard for you to read ...'
- 7 African monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV
- 8 Exclusive dispatch: Assad blamed for massacre of the innocents
- 9 Coke reveals its secret: It may need to carry a cancer warning
- 10 French in uproar over oral sex anti-smoking posters
Experience the Heineken Hub
Get free wi-fi and exclusive i content while you enjoy a tasty pint of Heineken at participating pubs.
Can you imagine a career in teaching?
Be inspired to teach - let real teachers show you how rewarding the job can be.
Playing a game-changing role during the Games
Cisco is providing the solutions for London 2012's complex IT needs.
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Career Services
Day In a Page
The secret life of the red carpet
Up and away – how '7 Up' went global



Comments