Thaindian News

Dhaka, Jan 23 (IANS) India and Bangladesh will jointly conduct a headcount in the enclaves located in each other’s territory, an official said.Thirteen teams have already begun a joint land survey to exchange the enclaves, which were formed after India’s partition in 1947, following a broad understanding reached in January last year.

The home affairs ministries of the two South Asian neighbours last week agreed to prepare a “simple form” to carry out the first-ever headcount in 111 Bangladeshi enclaves in the Indian territory and 51 Indian enclaves located in Bangladesh as early as possible, said a senior official here Saturday.

“Once the form is prepared, it will take maximum 15 days to complete the task. We are also working out the modalities for exchanging the enclaves on completion of the headcount,” the official said on the outcome of the 11th India-Bangladesh home secretary-level talks that concluded in Dhaka last Thursday.

The joint secretaries of the home ministries of the two countries would sit again to finalise the modalities, New Age newspaper quoted him as saying Sunday.

Bangladesh Home secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder said that the two sides had agreed to settle the border-related issues such as transfer of enclaves, border disputes and demarcation of 6.5 km of the unsettled border in two months before the Indian prime minister and home minister come to Dhaka on separate visits in a couple of months.