User:BengaliHindu/Bagge Tribunal

The Indo-Pakistan Boundary Disputes Tribunal also known as the Bagge Tribunal was set up in 1948 to resolve the boundary disputes between East Pakistan and India. It was chaired by Justice Algot Bagge of the Supreme Court of Sweden.

Background
In 1947, the erstwhile British India was partitioned into the Dominions of India and Pakistan. The province of Bengal was partitioned into East Bengal and West Bengal that were awarded to Pakistan and India respectively. Additionally, most of the Sylhet district of Assam was awarded to Pakistan following the Sylhet Referendum. Sylhet was merged to East Bengal, which then constituted the eastern wing of Pakistan. The eastern wing of Pakistan was unofficially known as East Pakistan till 1956, when the name of the province of East Bengal was officially changed to East Pakistan.

In June 1947, the Bengal Boundary Commission under the chairmanship of Cyril Radcliffe was setup to decide and demarcate the boundary between East Pakistan and India. However certain disputes cropped up regarding the interpretation and implementation of the verdict. In 1948, the Inter-Dominion Conference held at New Delhi set up a committee to prepare a report on the outstanding disputes. On 14 December 1948, the committee recommended setting up of a tribunal as early as possible and not later than 31 January 1949 for adjudication and final settlement of the disputes.

The tribunal
The tribunal was setup under the chairmanship of Justice Algot Bagge of the Supreme Court of Sweden. The tribunal had two other members, one each from India and Pakistan. The Indian nominee was Justice C. Aiyar, a retired judge of Madras High Court and the Pakistani nominee was Justice M. Shahabuddin of Dhaka High Court.

Four disputes were referred before the tribunal, two each on the eastern and western borders of East Pakistan. The tribunal commenced its work on December 1949 and submitted its report on 5 February 1950. The report proposed that India and Pakistan should demarcate the boundary line within one year from the publication of the report.

Kushiyara river
During the Partition, the district was Sylhet along with adjoining Muslim majority areas of Assam was to be detached from Assam and attached to East Bengal on the basis of Sylhet Referendum. However, keeping in mind the ease of administration, the Bengal Boundary Commission made certain exchanges of Muslim and non-Muslim majority areas between Pakistan and India to arrive at a workable solution. The commission adjudicated that the boundary line between Pakistan and India shall run along as follows.


 * Boundary between Patharkandi P.S. (India) and Kulaura P.S. (Pakistan) from the point where the boundary meets Tripura State
 * Boundary between Patharkandi P.S. (India) and Barlekha P.S. (Pakistan)
 * Boundary between Karimganj P.S. (India) and Barlekha P.S. (Pakistan)
 * Boundary between Karimganj P.S. (India) and Beani Bazar P.S. (Pakistan) to the point where it meets Kushiyara River
 * Course of Kushiyara River to the point where it meets the boundary between Sylhet district (Pakistan) and Cachar district (India)

The above decision meant that the sub-divisional town of Karimganj which lay on the southern bank of Kushiyara River would remain a part of India. However, a dispute later arose regarding the course of the Kushiyara River. Pakistan claimed that the actual course of Kushiyara was the river mentioned as Sonai in the map produced by the Bengal Boundary Commission. The claim stated that the correct boundary demarcation should be along the course of Sonai River to the point where it meets the Noti Khal and then along the Noti Khal to the point where it meets the boundary between Sylhet and Cachar district. The claim effectively called for the inclusion of Karimganj town in Pakistan. At the Tribunal, Chairman Justice Algot Bagge concluded that the boundary demarcated in the map published by the Bengal Boundary Commission was the correct one, which effectively meant that Karimganj town was to remain in India.

The Muslim leadership in Sylhet had expected that Karimganj would be awarded to Pakistan. When the verdict of the tribunal was published on 6 February 1950, some of the Muslim lawyers of Sylhet Bar Association and some Muslim muktears of Karimganj threatened violence. As anti-Hindu violence began in Dhaka on 10 February, Sylhet became very tense. The violence on Hindus started from 13 February which led to large scale exodus of Hindus to North East.