ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 examines the situation of a village, Nolikhai, located next to the Assam border. Due to an interstate agreement to realign the borderline between Bangladesh and India, villagers are threatened with losing their farmland. Additionally, since the agreement, confrontations between the villagers and the Border Security Force of India (BSF), who restrict villager's free movement, have also multiplied. Both threats, losing land and confronting the border guards, induce high levels of fear among the villagers. Yet, since there is a chance that the realignment of the borderline might not materialise, villagers maintain the hope of keeping their farmland. Consequently, the villagers’ everyday life is charged with fear and hope, shedding light on ambiguous state practices oscillating between threat and protection.
