Paper short abstract:

How do people living on the disputed margins of the Bengal borderland negotiate with their ‘self’?

Paper long abstract:

Borders divide nations and with that it provides a unique set of citizenship rights to its residents. But what about the people who are living on the margins of disputed lands? India shares its disputed borders mainly with Bangladesh and Pakistan. Bangladesh was carved out of the provinces of Bengal and Assam. The Radcliffe Commission's 'Blunder Line' holds the biggest dispute about the adversarial possession of enclaves. The major bone of contention are the 106 enclaves (locally known as 'chits') of India in having a total area of 20,957.07 acres situated within Bangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan). Bangladesh also has 95 Chitmahals, with a total area of 12, 289.37 acres of lands situated within the territory of India.

As the dispute remains unresolved, the identity of the people living in these enclaves becomes ambiguous. The problem faced by them is of a different kind altogether. They are neither refugees and nor citizens of any country. Without any official identity, the residents there cannot vote. Successive governments have taken many initiatives to deal with the conflict but their intentions were generally unclear.

This paper is an attempt to analyze that how the very idea of nation is plays a major role in figuring out ones own identity admits various sufferings along the fragmented

border. The inner conflict being the 'no-where people' questions the very essence of the formation of the geographical boundaries that separate two nations but not the people.