The dwellers of Garati enclave in sadar uapzila of Panchagarh district celebrated the historic swap of enclaves with India by hoisting the Bangladeshi national flag on Saturday morning, reports UNB.

The national flag was hoisted in Forkania Madrassa playground in Panchagarh sadar upazila at 6 am.

As part of the process to implement the 1974 historic Land Boundary Agreement, Bangladesh and India formally swapped their enclaves in the wee hours of Saturday, bringing an end to the 68-year statelessness of thousands of people.

With the midnight swap, the 51 Bangladesh enclaves in India have become Indian territories while 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh the Bangladesh territories.

Mohammad Samsul Alam, acting deputy commissioner of Panchagarh, Giasuddin Ahmed, superintendent of police of the district, Upazila Nirbahi Officer Laila Muntajery Deena, Mafizar Rahman, Panchagarh-Nilphamari district unit president of Bangladesh-India Enclave Swap Committee, among others, were present at the ceremony.

Besides, the enclave dwellers also sang the national anthem ‘Amar sonar Bangla ami tomay bhalobashi’ during the celebration.

There are 20,071 people reside in 36 enclaves in the district.

Of them, 512 people have registered their names to go to India.

Earlier, the Bangladeshi national flags were hoisted at 12:01am at Dasiarchhara enclave in Phulbari upazila of Kurigram district and Bhitorkuti enclave of Lalmonirhat district, marking the historic day.

Thousands of people joined the flag hoisting ceremony while the moment was also marked by lighting 68 candles.

However, Indian flag was kept half-mast at Mashaldanga enclave inside the Indian territory following the death of Former Indian president APJ Abdul Kalam.

Enclave dwellers celebrated their freedom in a festive mood at the midnight.

They brought out a torch procession and cooked special foods to celebrate the day.

The transfer of territorial jurisdiction of adversely possessed lands would also take effect from the midnight.

Gazette notifications pertaining to the territories will be issued by both the governments.

The residents, except those who opted for moving to India from Indian enclaves which are becoming Bangladesh territories, will be given Bangladesh citizenship.