Expediting the exchange of enclaves

The enclaves in each other's territories of India and Bangladesh are a bitter legacy of the partition of India in 1947 when small strips of the Indian territories were created within Bangladesh (former East Pakistan) and similar Bangladeshi ones inside India. As it is, there are 111 such Indian enclaves and 51 Bangladeshi ones. However, the total area of the Indian enclaves stands at 7,110.2 acres while that of Bangladesh covers 17,160 acres. For administrative and all other purposes or necessities, the proposal on both sides had been to merge the enclaves with their surrounding territories in Bangladesh and India through an overall exchange agreement between the two countries. But in the land boundary protocol that was signed between India and Bangladesh on August 06 last, only it was stated that the two countries shall exchange their enclaves. There is no mention of a time-frame within which the same will be accomplished. The protocol that was signed requires that both countries should ratify it and exchange the instruments of ratification before the sections of it dealing with exchange of enclaves can come into effect. But this is the point of concern for Bangladesh. Bangladesh needs to ratify the protocol through a Cabinet decision which poses no problem. But the Indian Constitution needs ratification of such a protocol through an act of parliament where the same can come across opposition. For example, a 1974 agreement at Prime Ministerial level between India and Bangladesh whereby the former agreed to cede a strip of only three acres to help connectivity to two large Bangladeshi enclaves of Dahagram and Angarpota with the mainland is yet to be ratified by the Indian parliament even though 37 years have passed away. Already, before and after the signing of the Bangladesh-India land boundary protocol in Dhaka, the main Indian opposition political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was noted for raising serious objections to it. They are describing it as impairing India's territorial integrity. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government must take note of this adverse development immediately and seriously to be able to overcome it. The new look Manmohan government cannot afford to lose any of Bangladesh's goodwill by further helping foot dragging on this issue when the gamut of Indo-Bangladesh relations is seen to be improving otherwise. Also the enclaves have been causing great human sufferings for both countries from their oddly placed physical situations that must end sooner than later.