The Barak Valley (also South Assam) is located in the southern region of the  Indian state of Assam. The main city of the valley is Silchar. The region is named after the Barak river. The Barak valley mainly consists of three administrative districts of Assam State - namely Cachar, Karimganj, and Hailakandi. Among these three states, Cachar and Hailakandi belonged to the erstwhile Cachar district in British-India, whereas Karimganj belonged to the Sylhet district . Karimganj was separated from Sylhet after the 1947 referendum; with the rest of Sylhet falling under East Pakistan and Karimganj under India.