The Hindu : New Delhi News : Police in a fix over Bangladeshis

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 30, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Police in a fix over Bangladeshis

By Devesh K. Pandey

NEW DELHI, JUNE 29. Even as the Delhi Police Commissioner, K.K. Paul, has directed his men to step up deportation of illegal Bangladeshi migrants, their identification has become a daunting task for the authorities here in the Capital. What the police fear most is that such elements could be exploited by terrorist organisations in carrying out their operations.

The recent arrest of an alleged spy, Kamran, from Malviya Nagar following the arrest of his Bangladeshi accomplice at Seerampur in West Bengal for being a part of Pakistani intelligence-sponsored espionage ring active in developing inputs on the movement of the Indian Army's Eastern Command, has once again revealed the increasing involvement of Bangladeshi nationals in subversive activities.

During interrogation, Kamran is alleged to have revealed that after being trained in espionage operations in Pakistan, he crossed over through the porous Indo-Bangladesh border with the help of Bangladeshi sympathisers.

It is now well established that a large number of Bangladeshi nationals have infiltrated into India and settled in various parts of the country over the past two decades, claiming to be residents of West Bengal and Bihar.

A common modus operandi they follow is to cross over to West Bengal, settle in some non-descript villages for some time to get used to their culture and language and then move to other States, including Delhi, impersonating as original residents of those villages, to avoid detection and deportation.

Of these, over two lakh Bangladeshis are believed to be in the Capital and neighbouring areas doing menial jobs. Several of them take to crime and the Delhi police have been able to compile the profile of 460 such people. Over the past decade, only about 16,000 Bangladeshi nationals have been deported from Delhi, whereas about 3,000 have been deported this year.

Last year, 5,760 Bangladeshis were deported. "But they keep coming back," said a police officer.

While their indulgence in anti-social activities is a genuine cause for concern, the police here also fear that most of the Bangladeshis are vulnerable to exploitation by terrorists.

A senior police officer said: "We must remember that they are outsiders and do not have any emotional attachment with this country. They, mostly youngsters, can be easily motivated to indulge in subversive activities primarily for monetary benefits."

The Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell), Ashok Chand, said the terrorist outfits have earlier used Bangladeshis to carry out their operations and they can do so in future too.

Many of these illegal immigrants residing here in jhuggi clusters like Yamuna Pushta have even obtained ration cards and other papers to prove that they were Indian citizens.

Interestingly, after a recent drive launched by the Government for rehabilitation of jhuggi dwellers, most Bangladeshi nationals possessing documents certifying them as Indian nationals are suspected to have got plots registered in their names.

They are now "bona fide" citizens of the country and have the "right" for their share in its resources.

A few months ago, another trend was noticed. Scores of Bangladeshi immigrants who had shifted from Delhi to the neighbouring places like Ghaziabad, Rampur, Gurgaon and Sonepat fearing police action, began moving to Jammu and Kashmir to work as casual labourers in vegetable markets and orchards. Several of them came in contact with militant outfits and allegedly started working for them as carriers and messengers.

This apart, over 200 people trying to enter Pakistan through the Valley have been arrested from the border areas in the recent past. Some have also been killed in encounters with the Army and the para-military forces.

In the midst of all this, latest inputs have revealed that Chhota Shakeel, brother of Pakistan-based don Dawood Ibrahim, hitherto operating from the middle-east countries, has started setting up his base in Bangladesh.

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