As I have previously mentioned, the intersecting
borders between Bangladesh and India could be hard to
confirm as India and Bangladesh does not supply
perfectly accurate maps at the current points because
of boundary disputes. The only way to confirm would
be to find detailed colonial boundary maps, which
unfortunately could also be in the governments' hands.
I am quite sure even the soldiers who guard the area
does not know if the point exists.
While in the search for tripoints, why don't we
include Tin Bigha in discussion. It is the small
connecting way between Bangladesh and
Dahagram-Angorpota, one of its enclaves. Even though
the sovereignty remains Indian, effective ownership
changes hands every hour. If we argue Tin Bigha to be
a neutral territory, then four tripoints are created.
Oops, I forgot Canada's local quadripoint. I did not
remember either Mauritania or Albania. I also thought
there was an intersecting border in the east of
Brasilia, but there is a small border section of
Brasilia on the river. I think I saw one quintipoint
in the book, but I do not remember exactly. The whole
book I saw was not of quadripoints, but of
administrative divisions and its oddities. It would
make my job much easier if there was a book just on
quadripoints. I am interested in all sort of boundary
oddities, but they peak the rarer the oddities are.
Thus quadripoints interest me more than tripoints.
For this reason, I might not enter a discussion of
tripoints or extreme directional points (as most
people here probably knows more than me), but if the
discussion enters on enclaves, quadripoints or
bisecting borders, I am all ears.
The Bangladesh-India border happens to be one of the
most interesting out there. I have already mentioned
Tin Bigha and all the enclaves. However, as there are
so many rivers in the area, whenever a river changes
course, the boundary would remain as it has been
previously. I have heard of dry land of one country
being created on the banks of the other country. I
wouldn't be surprised if divided islands have been
created and disappeared too. It is too costly for the
countries to stabilize the border, so it remains
messy.
A person I know have been in some of the
Bangladeshi-Indian enclaves, so it doesn't seem that
there is a chance of being arrested if anybody do
visit the enclaves. I will try next time.
Arif Samad
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