KARACHI: Surprise has been caused in … authoritative circles by the sudden attempt of the Bharati Government to magnify “beyond all proportion” an insignificant dispute over two small islands on the Brahmaputra in East Pakistan. The Bharati Government have telegraphically “demanded evacuation” of the islands by the East Pakistan police.

It is pointed out that in the last week of July some Calcutta newspapers gave much prominence to a report that “three islands on the Brahmaputra and forming part of Indian territory had been occupied by Pakistan”. Some of these papers even published a map of the area with the islands marked on it.

The Government of Bharat themselves hastily denied that any Bharati territory had been occupied by Pakistan. The report … which appeared in the Bharati papers of July 28 ... read: “There has been no occupation or violation by Pakistani troops so far of any Indian territory which is not a disputed territory, it is officially learnt. The villages said to have been occupied by Pakistani troops are … really nameless islands in the Brahmaputra, between Manikachar and Shalmara in Goalpara district.”

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2026