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Dear friends,
Armies, bureaucrats and cartographers may carve borders for the lands we live in, yet it is the land which forges our identity. India and Bangladesh recently swapped enclaves—small pockets of land in each other's territory— offering more than 50,000 stateless enclave residents the option of staying or moving across borders, and choosing nationalities accordingly. Unsurprisingly, most have decided to stay put, unwilling to take pains to resettle in a new land. |
Elsewhere, a peace accord between the Indian government and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM)— armed separatists seeking to redraw the map of north-east India and Burma to unify all areas inhabited by Naga people as a sovereign state— hopes to end a decades-long insurgency. Treaty details are still being drafted, yet concrete efforts to grant greater autonomy and recognise development needs of the land will help appease Naga perceptions of long-standing neglect from the centre.
Hoping quests for identity in the region will always trumpet South Asian humanity, we bring to you the next edition of 'South Asia Watch', featuring the insights of BRIEF team members, Afaq Hussain and Riya Sinha, on the latest developments along India's eastern borders.
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Mohammed Saqib
CEO, BRIEF |
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