Islands of Misfortune: Chars in Boundary Rivers Shared by India and Bangladesh

Chars are river islands that emerge and disappear due to fluvial processes within river-beds of rivers belonging to the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin. Some of these islands are large and fertile enough to be used in agriculture, other are utilized by fishermen and smugglers. Chars provide shelter for millions of people in Bangladesh and northeastern states of India including the most impoverished sections of rural communities. Charland inhabitants share a specific mindset that is open to change of environment and frequent resettling because of island erosion and natural disasters. Parts of the border between India and Bangladesh are formed by rivers, thus control over chars on such rivers is a matter of dispute between the two states. Neither international law nor legal framework of Indo-Bangladesh relations cover the status of borderline river chars, which leads to unilateral actions in attempts to claim these land parcels. The most notable cases are Muhuri river char dispute and New Moore island dispute both of which included displays of military force. An analysis of efforts by India and Bangladesh to resolve these issues provides some insights into the decision-making process on both sides and allows discerning the general patterns that India and Bangladesh follow in building up relations with their neighbors. The evolution of approaches to the chars issue reflects the changing dynamics of relations between successive governments in Delhi and Dhaka. In South Asia, land possession is one of the most valuable assets, which ensures that control over charlands will continue to be highly contested in the poorly demarcated and geographically fluid areas of the Indo-Bangladesh frontier.

Keywords

chars, river islands, territorial disputes, New Moore island

Received

19.10.2018

Publication date

19.10.2018

Number of characters

594

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GOST	Podoplelov S. Islands of Misfortune: Chars in Boundary Rivers Shared by India and Bangladesh // Asia and Africa Today – 2018. – Issue 10 C. 55-60 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://asaf-today.ru/S032150750000871-0-1 (circulation date: 18.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S032150750000871-0
MLA	Podoplelov, Svyatoslav A "Islands of Misfortune: Chars in Boundary Rivers Shared by India and Bangladesh." Asia and Africa Today 10 (2018):55-60. DOI: 10.31857/S032150750000871-0
APA	Podoplelov S. (2018). Islands of Misfortune: Chars in Boundary Rivers Shared by India and Bangladesh. Asia and Africa Today (10), pp.55-60 DOI: 10.31857/S032150750000871-0

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