Dashiarchharha residents clash over land a day after enclave becomes part of Bangladesh

A clash over a piece of land at Dashiarchharha in Kurigram’s Fulbarhi has left at least 10 people injured, only a day after Bangladesh and India swapped their enclaves.

Staff Correspondentand Kurigram Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 2 August 2015, 05:56 PM
Updated : 2 August 2015, 06:07 PM

Locals said sons of Siraj Uddin and Awal Khandakar clashed on Sunday morning over possession of the land situated beside Kalirhat Bazar at Dashiarchharha.
 
Dashiarchharha is one of the biggest Indian enclaves that was made a part of Bangladesh on Saturday and its residents became citizens.
 

Locals had earlier expressed fears of clashes once the Land Boundary Agreement was implemented since they had been making deals on land verbally. 
Incidentally, the 18-decimal stretch over which the clash took place was where the Bangladesh flag was hoisted to mark the end of statelessness of its residents. 
Emdadul Haque, elder son of Siraj Uddin, one of the claimants, told bdnews24.com they bought the land 30-40 years back from Awal Khandaker. 
“He and my father were good friends. We bought it because of that and we have been in possession of it since then. Like the other enclave lands, we did not register it.”
He went on to claim Khandker’s sons Obaidul and Moksudul Haque had it written in their names on Indian stamps just before their father died some 10 years ago.
The clash broke out when the brothers attempted to gain control of the land.
Siraj Uddin, 70, Emdadul Haque, 38, Harun ur Rashid, 35, Aleya Begum, 28, Abul Kalam Azad, 32, Anisul Islam, Abu Siddique, 28, and Sahera Banu, 20, were injured on one side.
On Khandker’s family’s side, Abdul Hye, 50, and Obaidul Haque, 52; Rasel, 17, and Khairul, 22, were wounded.
All of them were admitted to Fulbarhi Health Complex.
Obaidul said, the land was rented out to Siraj Uddin for a number of times when their father was alive.
“We took it back for the last time 7-8 years back in village arbitration. They planted trees and bamboos in the land and cut it away after that. We were in possession since then.”