Another freedom at midnight

Staff Correspondent: At the stroke of midnight, 50,000 people, who had been residing in 111 enclaves of India inside Bangladesh, became Bangladeshis. It`s an independence that has come late, but arrived nonetheless.

In the same way, 14,214 people who had been residing in 51 enclaves of Bangladesh inside India, became Indians.

As part of the process to implement the 1974 historic Land Boundary Agreement, Bangladesh and India formally swapped their enclaves in the wee hours of Saturday (August 1), bringing an end to the 68-year statelessness of thousands of people.
 
The Bangladeshi national flag was hoisted at 12:01am marking the historic day.  Thousands of people joined the flag hoisting ceremony while the moment was also marked by lighting 68 candles.

Special munajats were offered at nine mosques in Dasiarchhara enclave after juma prayers while special prayers were arranged at six temples in the enclave.

A boat race was also arranged in the Nil Komol River flowing through the west side of the enclave. Hundreds of people enjoyed the boat race from both banks of the river. Besides, a stick game was held at Kamalpur village.
 
 
Earlier after passing LBA in India, the residents of Kurigram, Nilphamari and other enclaves areas offered sweets each other as the Bangladesh and India exchanged instruments for ratification of LBA between the two countries.

The historic Land Boundary Agreement between Bangladesh and India was signed by Bangabandhu Shiekh Mujibur Rahman and Srimati Indira Gandhi in 1974.

The Indian Lok Sabha finally passed constitution amendment bill on LBA with Bangladesh to settle the long boundary disputes with the country on May 7.

On June 6, Bangladesh and India signed and exchanged the historic instruments of ratification on LBA.

risingbd/ DHAKA/ Aug 1, 2015/ Nowsher/ Mukul