India, Bangladesh to sign accord on exchange of enclaves, border

NEW DELHI: In a major boost to cementing bilateral ties, India and Bangladesh will be signing an agreeement on exchange of enclaves in adverse possession and boundary demarcation during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Dhaka next week.

The agreeement on demarcation of the border and exchange of enclaves, over which the two sides had reached an accord in 1974, will cover 111 enclaves in India and 51 on the other side in which about 51,000 people reside.

The people in the enclaves will be given the right to continue to reside there itself or choose the country of residence, it is learnt.

A joint headcount in one or two enclaves was on even today, giving the finishing touches to the exercise. One of the enclaves falls in Bangladesh's leader of the opposition Begum Khaleda Zia's parliamentary constituency.

The Prime Minister will be accompanied by chief ministers of five states bordering Bangladesh, which will be first of its kind.

They will be Tarun Gogoi (Assam), Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Manik Sarkar (Tripura), Lal Thanhawla (Mizoram) and Mukul Sangma (Mehalaya).

National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon was in Dhaka for two days on Sunday and Monday to tie up the Prime Minister's visit.

The feeling in the Foreign Office here is that Bangladesh is warm to Indian moves for building on its close relationship in which Khaleda Zia of BNP is also on board. She may also be meeting the Prime Minister during the visit.