The Tinbigha corridor in Cooch Behar. Picture by Main Uddin Chisti

Cooch Behar, April 11: They are probably the only parents in the world who teach their children to lie about their identities the moment they learn to speak.

The residents of the 93 Bangladeshi enclaves in Cooch Behar district have little choice. They must pretend to be Indians to send their children to school, go to markets, or get treated at nearby health centres, all of which are located “on the other side of the border”.

The enclaves are Bangladeshi territory landlocked within India (which has 131 enclaves inside the neighbouring country). Although the enclaves are not fenced in, their residents can be arrested under the Foreigners Act if they are caught on Indian land.

“Yes, we teach our children to lie, but what else can we do? We live under a dark uncertain shadow — we do not have citizenship, voting rights, police stations, health and educational centres or even electricity,” said Husain Ali, a resident of Mashaldanga, a Bangladeshi enclave.

Another resident of Mashaldanga, Kasemali Miyan, said: “We are forced to give addresses of Indian villages so that our children can go to schools on the other side of the border. We assume Hindu names when we go into Indian territory on some errand so that the BSF jawans manning the border areas do not suspect us.”

Even when women in labour are taken to health centres, they have to adopt a fictitious identity to ensure that they are not sent back without treatment.

“We have been playing this cat and mouse game with the BSF and police for several generations now and have become adept at lying,” said a man.

Only two enclaves, Dahagram and Angarpota, are slightly better off, as they are connected to Bangladesh mainland through the Tinbigha corridor, which remains open from 6am-6pm.

The secretary of the India-Bangladesh Enclave Exchange Committee and former Forward Bloc MLA, Dipak Sengupta, said the only solution was exchange of enclaves between the two countries.

“We have been fighting for this in Delhi and Dhaka for decades but neither government has shown enough interest,” Sengupta said.