By Mainul Islam Khan and Zakir Hossain Chowdhury
KURIGRAM, Bangladesh
At a minute past midnight on Friday, 162 enclaves of land will swap hands between India and Bangladesh.
The historic exchange will end the seven decades of uncertainty endured by the residents of the enclaves, known as chitmahals.
The partition of the Indian sub-continent at the end of British rule in 1947 left both India and Bangladesh, then East Pakistan, with hundreds of enclaves they could not administer because they were dotted along either side of their long shared border.
But from Saturday, the chitmahals will instantly begin disappearing. In phases over the next 11 months Bangladesh will absorb 111 Indian enclaves and India will take 51 from Bangladesh. It will also mean the elimination of most of the world's enclaves.
In Bangladesh's Kurigram district, home to several Indian enclaves which will switch to Bangladesh, delighted residents said the change has given them a new lease on life.
"Though the freedom of Bangladesh was in 1971, I'm feeling my freedom comes now," said Mohammad Monju, 55. "Now I have an identity and can move freely. Before this, our lives were insecure, we lived without an identity."
Many of the residents of the enclaves lived in harsh poverty because of their lack of access to basic resources and inability to move beyond the territories, as it would technically have meant crossing into another country despite the only markers being a concrete pillar.
Aid and government agencies also could not properly operate in the chitmahals because of the confusion caused by their borders, leading to serious underdevelopment. Aid agencies, including the United Nations Development Programme, have already offered to help developing the enclave areas once the land exchange is completed.
"I had to study in a [Bangladeshi] college using a fake address. Now, after this exchange, I become Bangladeshi and hope the government would acknowledge my academic certificate," said Nur Islam, an Indian enclave resident who will be among those finally given a national identity and standard civil rights.
Sreemoti Shopna Mohonto is among the many, mostly Hindus, who are moving to India with the switch. "My son is working there, I'm moving to India from Bangladesh to join him," she said.
After they were given the choice, close to 1,000 people opted to become Indian citizens and move to India and have now busied themselves selling their houses, trees and land, or simply leaving them behind.
A census conducted jointly in 2010 listed 51,549 residents in all enclaves; 37,334 in Indian enclaves and 14,215 in Bangladeshi enclaves within India.
The chitmahal residents plan to celebrate by decorating the roads, singing the national anthem and lighting 68 candles to mark their limbo being ended after 68 years.
"We will celebrate our freedom. All mosques, churches and temples will arrange special prayers for this event," said Moinul Haq, the head official in charge of the exchange on the Bangladeshi side. "We also arranged sports competitions and cultural programs in the celebration."
Bangladesh first ratified an agreement for the land exchange in 1974 but it was not finalized because of political calculations in India, until the Narendra Modi government pushed the deal through parliament in May.
The enclaves were created because at the time of partition, regardless of borders, they remained in control of landowners or chiefs, known as zamindars, who often had control of land far beyond their own areas.
