1. History

2. Background

3. Result

4. References

The Sylhet referendum was a referendum held in Sylhet to decide whether Sylhet would remain in Assam and join the new country of India or would join the province of East Bengal and the new country of Pakistan. The referendum decided in favor of joining Pakistan;^[1] however, the Barak Valley remained in India.

History

Originally, the Greater Sylhet region, erstwhile Sylhet Sarkar, was part of the Bengal Subah of the Mughal Empire until it came under British administration in 1765. Initially, the region became part of the Bengal Presidency. Despite protests to the Viceroy from its Bengali-majority population, in 16 February 1874 the region became part of the non-regulation Chief Commissioner's Province of Assam (North-East Frontier Province) in order to facilitate Assam's commercial development.^[2] After the first partition of Bengal in 1905 it became re-incorporated into Eastern Bengal and Assam. Sylhet became separated from Bengal again in 1912 when Assam was reconstituted into a chief commissioners' province. ^[3]

Background

The partition of India was to happen along religious lines. The Muslim-majority areas would form Pakistan while the Hindu-majority areas would form India.^[4] Sylhet was a Muslim majority district in Assam which was a Hindu-majority province. People in Sylhet spoke Sylheti and Bengali while those in the rest of the province spoke Assamese. The Government of Assam believed removing Sylhet would make the state more homogeneous and stronger as a result. Assam's Prime Minister Gopinath Bordoloi said in 1946 that his wish was to “hand over Sylhet to East Bengal”.^[5] The Government of British Raj declared on 3 July 1947 that a referendum would be held to decide the future of Sylhet on 7 July 1947. H. C. Stock was appointed the commissioner of the referendum.^[1]

Result

The majority of the population voted in favour of joining Pakistan. It was implemented in the Article 3 of the India Independence Act of 18 July 1947. The Radcliffe line published on 12 August 1947 gave some areas of Sylhet mainly the Barak Valley, which includes Karimganj, to India, while the rest of Sylhet joined East Bengal. Even though there was a majority vote across Sylhet to join East Bengal, the published Radcliffe line gave some areas of Sylhet to India like Karimganj, while the rest of Sylhet joined East Pakistan. It had a majority Muslim population which had opted for Pakistan unlike some other areas in Sylhet like Moulvibazar which had not.^[1][6] India received three and a half thanas from Sylhet.^[7][8] However, the result of the referendum was welcomed in Assam.^[9] Thus, most of the Sylhet district of British Indian province of Assam joined East Pakistan, which subsequently became independent Bangladesh in 1971.^[10]

References

• Provinces and Territories of Canada
• Provinces and territories of canada by population
• Provinces (China)
• Provinces in Pakistan
• Provinces in the People's Republic of China
• Provinces of Armenia
• Provinces of Australia
• Provinces of Bhutan
• Provinces of Brazil
• Provinces of byzantium
• Provinces of Denmark
• Provinces of Dominican Republic
• Provinces of Iceland
• Provinces of Iraq
• Provinces of Kazakhstan
• Provinces of Kyrgyzstan
• Provinces of Maldives
• Provinces of Manchukuo
• Provinces of Phaic Tan
• Provinces of Poland (1975-1988)
• Provinces of rome
• Provinces of Saudi Arabia
• Provinces of Tajikistan
• Provinces of the byzantine empire
• Provinces of the Empire of Brazil