The village of Votbari is a species of small island surrounded by the great Bangladesh. An island very backward: has no paved roads or electricity, primary schools, a hospital or a doctor. "There is nobody who thinks us" says Jober Ali, a resident. "We do not have a country. We do not have an identity. We are not anywhere. " If there is an act of crime or vandalism police there is, if people have any need not know where to turn. The State is absent. Because Votbari is an enclave, a chitmohol in bangla, meaning "piece of paper." Is an island that there is a no-man's land, victim of uncertain design boundaries during the partition of 1947 with which India has recovered its independence, the British Empire has crumbled and was born in Pakistan. Votbari is now a village abandoned by both India and Pakistan, does not receive any aid from both States and years of regional tensions have taken a social and political limbo.
Tomorrow this state of affairs will change. The 6 and 7 September the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh will visit Bangladesh, accompanied by four Prime Ministers of the neighbouring Indian States of Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram. Thanks to this visit, relations between India and Bangladesh will take a new road and some old problems can be resolved. The visit comes after 40 years of war between India and Pakistan, of which Bangladesh was a party as "East Pakistan", which led to the creation of the people's Republic of Bangladesh thanks to the support of India. During Singh's visit to the Governments of India and Bangladesh have agreed to Exchange 162 enclaves, giving residents the option to choose the nationality they want. The India must give Bangladesh 111 and must have in exchange for 51. According to a survey carried out recently by the two Governments, these lands have nobody in a population of 51,000 people. Residents of the enclaves have no minimum service that gives a State, albeit poor, such as medical assistance, and no administration has so far taken responsibility to represent them. "We have lived here for decades. But nobody has ever cared about us. We are human beings, but that ' they ' do not take into account, "says a resident of Votbari.
Singh's trip is important not only for the two countries, but for stability and economic growth of the entire eastern region of South Asia. The agreements include the exact demarcation of the boundary line between India and Bangladesh, which is 4,096 kilometres long. In 2001 the border dispute has led to a brief armed conflict. Another pending issue is the Division of the waters of the rivers Teesta and Feni. The Teesta was born in the Himalayas, through the Indian State of Sikkim and empties into the Brahmaputra in Bangladesh. The India is building of dams for hydroelectric exploitation of the waters, despite objections that dams can cause of seismicity in the surrounding areas. The Feni River is a river in both Member States and the use of the waters was cause for disagreement between India and Pakistan since the 1950s. Another issue that will be dealt with is that, due to increasing export deficit. In 2010-2011 the India has exported to Bangladesh to 3.84 billion dollars while imported to 406.3 million dollars.
Arvind Gupta, former diplomat of the Indian Foreign Service and Director of Strategic and Defence Studies at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, said that both countries need to find new areas of cooperation. "There are two sets of issues to be discussed. The first is the legacy of the border that weighs heavily on both sides of the territory. Another is the physical connectivity. Communication is a very important factor because the States in the Northeast are Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan and China and the only access road to these States from within India is through Assam. " The former Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh to Dhaka in the years 2003-2006, Professor Veena Sikri, said the trip Singh establishes a new kind of transformation in relations between India and Bangladesh. Professor Mohammad Faridul Alam of the University of Chittagong, Bangladesh, said: "the visit is very important for the whole area. For the first time focuses attention on the Northeast. " Economic development will be one of the key factors of the visit because it will be decided on ways to implement the decisions and the agreements taken during the trip to India in 2010 of the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina. Other problems to the carpet are the use of the port of Mongla, the supply of electricity and the definition of the issue of Indian and bangladeshi exclaves.
The visit of Prime Minister Singh promises a journey that will transform the lives of many. In the long term will bring changes to several hundreds of millions of people in both India and Bangladesh. In the short term, should finally recognize the full dignity of citizens and the human rights of 51,000 inhabitants of "no man's land".
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