Dahala Khagrabari (#51) ( bn, দাহালা খাগড়াবাড়ী (#৫১)) was an Indian

enclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

located on the

Bangladesh–India border The Bangladesh–India border, known locally as the International Border (IB), is an international border running between Bangladesh and India that demarcates the eight divisions of Bangladesh and the Indian states. Bangladesh and India sha ...

belonging to the district of Cooch Behar in the state of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

. This was a piece of India within a piece of

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

within a piece of India within Bangladesh, making it the only third-order enclave (or counter-counter enclave) in the world until 1 August 2015, when it was ceded to Bangladesh. At — approximately the size of a soccer field— it was one of the smallest of the

India–Bangladesh enclaves The India–Bangladesh enclaves, also known as the chiṭmahals ( bn, ছিটমহল ''chiṭmôhôl'') and sometimes called pasha enclaves, were the enclaves along the Bangladesh–India border, in Bangladesh and the Indian states of West ...

: 106 Indian exclaves inside Bangladesh and 92 Bangladeshi exclaves inside India.

Overview

Dahala Khagrabari (#51) was completely encircled by the

i village of 'Upanchowki Bhajni, 110' itself contained in the Indian village of Balapara Khagrabari, itself contained in the Debiganj,

Rangpur Division Rangpur Division ( bn, রংপুর বিভাগ) is one of the Divisions in Bangladesh. It was formed on 25 January 2010, as Bangladesh's 7th division. Before that, it was under Rajshahi Division. The Rangpur division consists of eight d ...

, Bangladesh. Thus, Dahala Khagrabari was the enclave of an enclave of an enclave. In practice, it was a parcel of land used for farming and was not actually inhabited. It was separated by a few metres (yards) of Bangladeshi land from its first-order Indian enclave. The owner of this enclave was a Bangladeshi farmer who lived in the enclave surrounding Dahala Khagrabari (#51). Despite its small size, Dahala Khagrabari (#51) was not the smallest of the enclaves found on the

, the smallest being Panisala No. 79, an Indian enclave of in the Rangpur Division of Bangladesh. Because of a lack of governance and unfavourable conditions faced by residents of the enclaves, in September 2011 the governments of India and Bangladesh announced their intention to resolve the issue by means of swapping 162 enclaves, giving residents a choice of nationality. On 6 May 2015, India ratified the Land Boundary Agreement and agreed to cede the enclave to Bangladesh.

Overview

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Further reading