The Hindu : National : “Illegal immigrants a threat”

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Monday, Apr 21, 2008
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National

“Illegal immigrants a threat”

Vinay Kumar

NEW DELHI: The presence of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in large numbers poses a grave threat to India’s internal security and the government should take it seriously and strictly monitor their movement.

This observation was made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs.

The 25-member committee, led by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj, took note of reports that counterfeit notes were in large circulation along the India-Bangladesh border.

It took cognisance of reports that illegal Bangladeshi migrants were able to secure ration cards, driving licences, voter identity cards and even PAN cards.

“Media reports have attributed claims to the intelligence sources that terrorist groups have been recruiting Bangladeshis in India. It has also been reported that certain Bangladeshi insurgent groups were involved in the terrorist incidents in our country.”

Government’s steps

Referring to the measures taken by the Home Ministry to tackle illegal immigration, the panel noted that these included fencing of the border, floodlighting and laying of roads to enable effective patrolling, assignment of the border guarding duties to a single force, reduction of gaps between the border outposts, provision of modern surveillance and other equipment and gadgetry to the Border Security Force.

The committee said the Home Ministry had stated that involvement of terrorist groups based in Bangladesh in some incidents of terrorist violence had come to notice, but there were no reports of recruitment of Bangladeshis in India for these purposes.

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