Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram left here for Dhaka on Friday evening on one-day official visit of Bangladesh. Official sources said that security and border management-related issues between the two neighbours will top the agenda during discussions with Bangladeshi leaders.
Mr. Chidambaram will hold talks with his Bangladesh counterpart Sahara Khatun and also meet the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister Dipu Moni in Dhaka.
India and Bangladesh will also make efforts to reach an agreement to exchange each other's 'enclaves' during the Home Minister’s visit. A final agreement is likely to signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's much-awaited visit to Bangladesh in September, first by an Indian Prime Minister in the past 12 years.
Enclaves are small areas located, near the border, in another country. As against 106 Indian enclaves occupying some 20,000 acres within Bangladesh, there are 92 Bangladeshi enclaves spread over 12,000 acres within Indian territory, meaning that such enclaves are in each other’s adverse possession and the problem has remained unsolved for the past four decades.
Sources in the government said the Home Minister would discuss other issues including border fencing and matters concerning deportation of ULFA leader Anup Chetia during his meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sahara Khatun.
It is expected that the Indo-Bangladesh border management plan will be finalised and signed during the visit of the Home Minister who is accompanied by the chief of Border Security Force (BSF) and other senior officers of the ministry.
