Indian enclave attacked after Bangladeshi killed

DHAKA - Police detained three people who burnt over 200 houses at an Indian enclave on the border after a group of Indians killed a Bangladeshi, a media report said Sunday.

A mob reacted violently after the Indians killed Ramjan Ali and refused to return his body in Garati, the Indian enclave, the New Age newspaper said Sunday.

Surrounded by the Bangladeshi territory of Panchagarh, the Indian enclave is one of over a hundred that dot the India-Bangladesh border drawn by the British in 1947.

Quoting “local people”, the newspaper said the initiative to retaliate was taken by local leaders of the ruling Awami League.

Awami League leader Osman Ali said the villagers decided teach the Indians a lesson after they beat the Bangladeshi to death.

“We are looking into the matter. The situation is now normal,” Deputy Commissioner of Panchagarh Bonamali Bhowmik told the New Age.

Panchagarh Superintendent of Police Shahriar Rahman said: “Garati is beyond our jurisdiction. We are not allowed to move into the Indian enclave.”

But he added that relief was being reached to the enclave “on humanitarian grounds”.

In January, when the prime ministers of India and Bangladesh met, they agreed in principle to ‘exchange’ the enclaves to smoothen the movement of their inhabitants without affecting their respective jurisdiction.