With the Indian states attempt to exclude 4 million in Assam, it makes you wonder about how the ghost of the Radcliffe line still hangs over the area. The line was drawn and subsequently become the boundaries in the North-East of Indian sub-continent based on religion in 1947 between East Bengal (Pakistan) and India which are clearly still been contested over 70 years after the events.

In the map above Karimganj would be the blue portion of Sylhet after the red line on the border of Assam.

So if we are going to get four millions residents crossing the border, l say in jest we want Karimganj back as well!  This was the part of Sylhet which opted out of India into East Bengal yet had not been transferred to East Bengal ( Pakistan ) after independence and has been a bone of contention ever since for some in Sylhet and Bangladesh. After all the residents of Karimganj did vote to go into East Bengal in the Sylhet referendum of 1947 but found themselves in India after independence & partition. Now that would be something indeed.  This botched handover was also highlighted by the number of enclaves we had both within India and East Bengal of Pakistan which has only recently been sorted out by the Bangladesh and Indian respective governments in 2015 and has referred to as the the world’s craziest border. 

Given we only recently got the enclaves of Bangladesh in India and visa versa sorted out, maybe this should be the next thing to sort out is Karimganj as it may well come to light in the present circumstances.  

Enclaves swaps only done in 2015 on Indian & Bangladesh border