The talk covers the historical origins, legal complexities, economic stakes, and strategic implications of the Sir Creek dispute between India and Pakistan, a 64 km tidal estuary in the Kutch region. The cartographic confusion was created by the departing Britishers with the final cartographic cut called the Radcliffe Line in 1947. Sir Creek within the broader legacy of arbitrary colonial boundary-making in the Indian subcontinent, from the Durand Line to the Radcliffe Line, noting that the latter stopped short of clearly demarcating the maritime boundary in Gujarat and left the Banganga/Sir Creek sector ambiguous. This ambiguity hardened into a dispute when Sindh went to Pakistan and Kutch (Gujarat) to India, and although an international tribunal ruling in 1968 clarified some aspects, mutual dissatisfaction persisted. Pakistan refuses to acknowledge the resolution, stating the core boundary issue to be resolved forts then Sir Creek.
