Bangladesh–India border

The Radcliffe Line

Britain’s Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act on 18 July 1947, giving barely a month to divide British India. A Boundary Commission chaired by Cyril Radcliffe, who had never been to India, split Bengal and Punjab so as to leave as many Muslims as practical in Pakistan, to the east of the new Bengal line. With the Congress and Muslim League members unable to agree, Radcliffe decided the borders himself.^[2]

The line ran through villages, towns and fields. It was not published until 17 August 1947, two days after independence, and East Bengal became East Pakistan, about 1,600 km from the western half of the country.^[2] It became the border of Bangladesh when Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan in 1971.^[3]

Enclaves and adverse possessions

Partition left pieces of each country marooned inside the other. The princely state of Cooch Behar had centuries-old enclaves mixed with its neighbour’s, and when it joined India in 1949 they became Indian or Pakistani territory, about 119 km² in all. Some even held counter-enclaves.^[3] Residents could not fully use the rights of either country, and roads, electricity and schools stopped at the enclave edge.^[1][3]

There were also “adverse possessions”, patches along the line held by people of one country on the other’s side of the boundary pillars, and 6.1 km of border in three places was never demarcated.^[1]

Forty-one years to ratify

India and Pakistan agreed to swap the enclaves in 1958, and India and newly independent Bangladesh signed a Land Boundary Agreement in 1974. Neither was carried out: in India, handing over enclaves was attacked as losing territory.^[3] Bangladesh ratified the 1974 agreement that year; India did not.^[3][1]

A protocol signed during the Indian prime minister’s visit to Bangladesh on 6 September 2011 settled what was left. It would swap 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh, covering 17,160.63 acres, for 51 Bangladeshi enclaves in India covering 7,110.02 acres, and redraw the line around adverse possessions so that each side kept what it already held. India’s foreign ministry described the exchange as largely notional, legalising a situation that already existed on the ground.^[1]

After the 2014 election, India’s parliament unanimously passed a constitutional amendment, and on 6 June 2015 the two prime ministers, Narendra Modi and Sheikh Hasina, exchanged ratifications.^[3] The enclaves changed hands on 1 August 2015. Their residents could choose which country to belong to.^[3]

“the exchange of enclaves will legalise a situation which already exists de facto”^[1]