The Assam government is in denial mode over the issue of Bangladeshis crossing into the State and unless there is an agreement over extraditing them, the problem will not be resolved, according to Alaka Sarma, Economics Professor at Gauhati University and former vice-president of the Asom Gana Parishad.
Ms. Sarma, who visited relief camps in Kokrajhar and Dhubri, said the 1985 Assam Accord remained only on paper and India’s border with Bangladesh and other countries was open. Had the tenets of the Assam Accord been adhered to, and the borders sealed, the influx would not have occurred, she said at a meeting organised by the Press Club here on Monday.
After the recent violence, Assam witnessed “the country’s largest exodus” and about four lakh people were living in camps with no prospect of returning home, as everything was razed to the ground.
Ms. Sarma, who represented Nalbari twice as MLA and who lost her husband, a former Cabinet Minister in a bomb blast in 2000, said that from 1979 to 1985 there was a strong movement in Assam against foreign nationals, culminating in the signing of Assam Accord. However, 27 years later, things had not changed. People from Bangladesh walk over to India for daily wages and then return and in addition, the steady flow of migrants had created problems and a clash of culture with the local tribal people, including Bodos.
The riots were not about pitting one religion against another. The Assam government was aware of the tensions and this violence was a failure of the government to check the same. Quoting statements made in Parliament, Ms. Sarma said 80,000 Bangladeshis entered Assam with legal documents but vanished without a trace.
She said that according to the Foreigners Act, the onus of proof was on the person charged with being an illegal immigrant, but under the Illegal Migrants Determination by Tribunal Act, which was operational in Assam till 2005, the onus was on the complainant. Some time ago, 54,000 people were identified as foreigners but they were not deported. In 1985, in Assam, about two lakh people were in the category of doubtful voters, she said, estimating at least four lakh migrants from Bangladesh in the State. The number could be higher.
“There is no treaty with Bangladesh on extradition and that is posing problems since these people would not be accepted back if India deported them,” she pointed out. The issue of extradition was not mentioned in the Assam Accord.
Keywords: Assam violence, Assam ethnic violence, Bangladeshis infiltration, Assam government, security measures
First we must straighten the facts on the issue. Labor market in
Bangladesh is an employee's market -- argument that a Bangladeshi
labor will "walk over to India for daily wages and then return" is
very hard to comprehend. Bangla-India border is tighter than US -
Mexico border. No time frame is mentioned in the allegation that
"80,000 Bangladeshis entered Assam with legal documents but vanished
without a trace". Different agencies of Central and provincial
governments repeatedly launched campaign to check ID. To suggest that
those agencies were not taking any action against illegal immigrant
is outrageous. Critiques never mention the fact that once the whole
north-east was one province, people moved for densely populated
southern part of the province to the north without any problem.
Conflicts we see today are recent -- mainly against Muslims and not
against anybody else. Call me conspiracy theorist, I see concerted
efforts to keep India weak and divided.
It is a national shame for country like India who could not promise
safety and security for its natives who were born and brought up for
centuries inside India. It was indeed a pathetic sight to see scores
of Indians running away from the civilized urban centres towards their
own place of birth since the government of the day could not promise a
safe governance. What a joke? Countries like Australia, US, UK and
host of other European countries go to any length to seek the release
of their citizens from the foreign soil whenever they caught for
serious offences. Whereas, in India, the government of the day could
not even exercise the governing power over a simple minority which is
challenging the rule of law. Let the impotent Indian government look
little north and learn from what is potent governance from the super
power China. Can anyone even dream of infiltrating into China
illegally and escape the consequences?
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