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Dhaka:
India and Bangladesh Saturday began signing border maps in Dhaka,
officially recognising their 4,156-km international boundary and
ending a decades-old lingering discord over the issue.
The maps were signed at the Department of Land Records and Surveys
(DLRS), ahead of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to
Bangladesh Sep 6-7.
Tariq Ahmad Karim, Bangladesh High Commissioner to New Delhi, and
Rajeet Mitter, Indian High Commissioner to Dhaka, signed some of
the 1,149 maps.
The border demarcation team chief, Joint Home Secretary
(political) Kamal Uddin Ahmed said Bangladesh made half of the
maps while the rest were made by India.
"The maps were finalised after scrutiny by representatives of the
two countries," bdnews24.com quoted him as saying.
Ahmed said the high commissioners of the two countries will sign
eight copies of each map.
Though the current border is recognised by both countries, it will
get legal backing once the maps are signed.
However, a 6.5-km-long stretch between the two countries is yet to
be demarcated, the report said.
Ahmed said the representatives of the two countries will finalise
the maps for this part soon.
The demarcation of the boundary between India and then east
Pakistan began in 1947. A preliminary draft on the demarcation was
signed in 1956. The process was stalled later.
When Bangladesh was liberated in 1971, then prime minister Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman and his then Indian counterpart Indira Gandhi
signed an agreement in 1974 for border demarcation. But the
process was stopped again.
The issue was highlighted again during the visit of Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina to India last year.
Survey of Bangladesh and DLRS conducted the demarcation surveys.
DLRS made 628 maps covering 2,262 km of Bangladesh-Paschimbanga
border, 269 maps for 874 km Bangladesh-Tripura border, 93 maps for
264-km Bangladesh-Assam border and 139 maps for 436-km Bangladesh-Meghalaya
border.
Survey of Bangladesh made 20 maps for 320-km Bangladesh-Mizoram
border, the surveyor general of the organisation Brig Gen Mohammad Mominul Haque said.
Home Minister Shahara Khatun, Land Minister Rezaul Karim Hira and
Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, among others, were present at the
signing ceremony.
Maj Gen Girish Kumar, head of the boundary cell of the Indian
external affairs ministry, and M. Subaidu, counsellor of the
political wing of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, also
attended.
Terming the signing "historic", the ministers said the settlement
of the border will help improve relations between the two
countries.
Ahmed said the dispute over enclaves would be settled during
Singh's visit to Dhaka. The Indian prime minister will sign a deal
with his Bangladeshi counterpart to swap the enclaves, he said.
There are 111 Indian enclaves with 37,000 people in Bangladesh,
while 51 enclaves with 14,000 people lie in West Bengal.
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