A patchwork frontier: historical aspects of the enclaves problem in Indo-Bangladeshi relations

Abstract

The article discusses the problem of enclave territories on the border between India and Bangladesh (East Pakistan in 1947–1971), known as chitmahals or chhits. The emergence of chitmahals can be traced through the history of the Cooch Behar princely state in the north-east of India. The XVII–XVIII centuries saw the decline of the princely state, which led to the ceding of a number of land parcels within its territory to the Mughal Empire. At the same time, the maharajas of Cooch Behar had land possessions outside their state. Later the actions of the East India Company, the new suzerain of the princely state, resulted in the emergence of new enclave territories. The problem of chitmahals was not resolved during the Partition of India in 1947, and Cooch Behar’s merger with India in 1949 turned it into a matter of international relations. The Agreements of 1958 and 1974 sanctioned the exchange of enclaves in order to preserve the integrity of the international border, but their timely implementation was delayed by politicization of the problem and India’s cumbersome bureaucracy. Corruption and the lax attitude of border guards helped enclave dwellers survive without access to their state’s infrastructure, economic system and social services up to 2015. The local population was hostile to people from chhits, which further exacerbated their hardships and impeded the implementation of the 1974 Agreement. Though the Agreement was ratified in full in 2015, there still are a few obstacles to clear on the way to resolving the enclaves issue.