Others in Bangladesh who were supportive and kind: my dear friends and frequent hosts, Shaheen and Mahfuz Anam and their daughter, Priti, who so willingly parted with her room in their old home in Dhanmondi, particularly on one occasion when the Ambala Inn cancelled my booking and I found myself without a place to stay! There were many wonderful meals and conversations.

Others I wish to thank include former Foreign Secretary, Farooq Sobhan, and Rehman Sobhan, Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue; Imtiaz Ahmed, C.R. Abrar and Ameena Mohsin of Dhaka University for their openness and frankness; Dr Iftekar Ahmed (Ifty), formerly of the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies in Colombo, the Bangladesh Institute for Development Studies for their library facilities and discussions with faculty members Debopriya Bhatta-charyya and Dr Sharifa Begum; the Bangladesh Institute for International Strategic Studies, especially Dr Abdur Rob Khan.

Thanks are also in order to Shyamal Roy and others in Terres des Hommes in Kurigram and the staff at the Rongpur Rural Development Society, and particularly Keramat Bhai and his friends in Chilmari and around, whose stories are the core of this book.

In India:

In Assam: Sunil Baruah of the State Census Department; Chief Minister Prafulla Mahanta; police officers in Guwahati, Dhubri and elsewhere; former Deputy Commissioner of Dhubri, L.M. Singhvi ; Dilip Chakravarty; members of the Asom Sahitya Sabha and the Bar Association, Dhubri; Jahnu Barua, film-maker; Gautam Bora, film director and cinematographer; Dilip Chandan, editor, the Asom Bani; former Home Commissioner Tapan Lai Baruah; Justice S. N. Bhargava of the IMDT; Prof Monirul Hussain of Guwahati University; Dhiren Bezbaruah, editor, the Sentinel, Opu Dutta-Chowdhury of Bellevue Hotel, Guwahati, and his incredibly helpful staff; Manoj and Vineeta Jalan in Dibrugarh whose hospitality and support appear unending.

In Meghalaya: Niketu Iralu, my mother Maya Hazarika, my brother Suzoy and Sandi S. Syiem

In Calcutta: Ranabir Samaddar and Paula Banerjee, Subir Bhowmick and Prof Barun De; the family of Shri Mahadeo Jalan for their generous hospitality

In New Delhi: My cousin Sumita for getting hold of Supreme Court documents and decisions; Dr M.R. Vijayunni, then Registrar-General of India, and the staff of the Census Commission; Jaswant Singh, External Affairs Minister (EAM) and friend of the North East; R.S. Jassal, spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs; Lalit Mansingh, Foreign Secretary; Salman Haidar, former Foreign Secretary; Arun Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs (Policy Planning); S. Deb-Mukherjee, former High Commissioner to Bangladesh; Ranjit Rae, former Director in the EAM’s office; Raghuvendra Singh, former Personal Secretary to the EAM; Chaman Lal, Special Rapporteur in the National Human Rights Commission; K.P.S. Gill, and G.K. Pillai, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, who was a source of information. It was a pleasure to discuss issues related to the North East with him. He made time even during the most demanding of schedules.