Bangladesh cabinet ratifies LBA protocol

The Cabinet has ratified the Land Border Agreement Protocol signed four years ago for the exchange of enclaves with India.

The ratification proposal was placed at the regular Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday.

When asked how long it would take to implement the deal, Cabinet Secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the Cabinet ratification was the last of the required approvals.

“Now the agencies of the two countries will work for its implementation at the official level.”

He added, “An exchange of instruments will take place during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit.”

Under the deal, 111 Indian enclaves inside Bangladesh and 51 Bangladeshi enclaves inside the neighbour’s territory would be exchanged, along with the residents, and 6.1 kilometres of unmarked borders would be demarcated.

The cabinet secretary, however, said individual choice would be given priority in granting citizenship.

“If anyone in the Indian enclaves here wants to remain as an Indian citizen, he or she will get that opportunity. Residents of Bangladeshi enclaves in India will also get the same chance. They can be Bangladeshi nationals and will need to relocate here.”

Bhuiyan said the problem of adversely possessed lands (APL) would be solved by returning the land to the original owners.

India would permanently lease the Tin Bigha Corridor to Bangladesh and it would remain open round-the-clock, he said.

Areas not yet demarcated will also be delimited.

“Some 35 strip maps, outlined by the countries jointly, will be finalised through the implementation of the protocol.”

“India would get more land by swapping the APLs. Bangladesh will get more land area by the exchange of enclaves,” he said.

The protocol for the implementation of the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement, better known as the Mujib-Indira Pact, was signed during the 2011 visit of the then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Dhaka.

Even though Bangladesh ratified the agreement, the ratification of the protocol deal ran into difficulty in the Indian parliament.

That impasse ended after the Modi government managed to create a consensus on the issue and the constitutional amendment was passed on May 6 and 7 in Indian parliament.

“The Land Boundary Agreement can now be implemented,” said the cabinet secretary.