Ratification of the historic Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) in Indian parliament will bring an end to miseries of people living in the landlocked enclaves without citizenship for more than six decades and long-pending land boundary disputes between India and Bangladesh.

Diplomatic circles in Dhaka and New Delhi believe the move will rectify the haphazard drawing of the Radcliffe Line that separated India and Bangladesh [erstwhile East Pakistan] during the Partition in 1947 and has been marked by inability of the two countries to resolve many basic questions about their territorial integrity.

Implementation of the agreement will allow the neighbours to focus on unlocking the full potential of mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation through enhanced security, trade, transit and development, they observe.

Though attempts have been made to arrive at a comprehensive settlement of the land boundary since 1947, political changeover, lack of political will and legal complexities have so far prolonged an amicable solution.

With exchange of enclaves and transfer of adversely possessed land, around 52,000 people living in these 162 enclaves who are virtually deprived of basic and citizen rights like education, healthcare, electricity and communications will finally be able to lead a normal life.

Besides, stable and peaceful boundaries will result in better management and coordination of the border and strengthen the ability to deal with smuggling, illegal activities and other trans-border crimes, the diplomatic circles observe.

They add exchanged enclaves and adversely possessed land will work as a major confidence building measure between Dhaka and New Delhi, remove sufferings of people concerned and, more importantly, de-escalate border conflicts.

Political leaders and government officials have meanwhile put emphasis on huge investment for infrastructure development as the enclaves are devoid of all modern facilities.

According to foreign ministry officials, attempts have been made to arrive at a comprehensive settlement of the land boundaries since 1947.

The Nehru-Noon Agreement of 1958 and the Agreement Concerning the Demarcation of the Land Boundary between India and Bangladesh and Related Matters of 1974 (referred to as 1974 LBA) sought to find a solution in this regard.

However, three outstanding issues pertaining to an un-demarcated land boundary of approximately 6.5km, exchange of enclaves and adverse possessions remained unsettled.

Finally, the outstanding problem is being resolved in light of the 1974 LBA and its Protocol to 2011.

During a joint survey, feedback from people concerned suggests they do not want to leave their land and would rather live where they have lived all their lives.

Both Bangladesh and India have decided that it would be necessary to preserve the status quo and retain the adverse possessions to avoid large-scale uprooting and displacement of people against their will.

The 2011 Protocol accordingly departs from the 1974 LBA in seeking to maintain the status quo of adverse possessions instead of exchange of territories in deference to the wishes of the people to remain in their land.

Exchange of enclaves may look like a loss of Indian land to Bangladesh, but the actual scenario is quite different. These enclaves are located deep inside Bangladesh and there has hardly been any direct access to them from India since 1947.

Similarly, Bangladesh has had minimal, if any, access to its enclaves located deep inside India. In reality, exchange of enclaves denotes only a notional exchange of land.

In respect of adverse possessions, it must be noted that the transferred areas have already been in possession of Bangladesh and handover of these areas to Bangladesh is merely a procedural formal acceptance of a de facto reality on the ground.

The same applies to Indian adverse possessions within Bangladesh that would be transferred to the Indian Union in implementation of the 2011 Protocol.