Khaleda happy

BNP and its chairperson, Khaleda Zia, yesterday expressed happiness over the exchange of the 162 enclaves inside Bangladesh and India and welcomed the country's new citizens from the around 52,000 inhabitants who tasted freedom for the first time in 68 years.

"Today (yesterday) is a glorious day in our life...it is a historical incident," BNP Spokesperson Asaduzzaman Ripon told a briefing at the party's Nayapaltan central office in the capital.

"When the clock struck a minute past midnight yesterday (Friday)...flags of the two countries were hoisted there as the enclave people got back their citizenship following the Indian parliament's ratification of the historic land boundary agreement," he said.

Ripon said Khaleda has also urged the government to immediately undertake development projects to ensure all civic amenities and government facilities, including education, healthcare and economic development, for the new citizens .