The Hindu : National : 3.92 lakh foreigners chargesheeted since 2001, says Assam government

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3.92 lakh foreigners chargesheeted since 2001, says Assam government

Sushanta Talukdar

Persons chargesheeted as foreigners have gone missing after filing of cases against them
BJP charged with communalising the foreigners’ issue by targeting only Muslims

GUWAHATI: The Assam government on Thursday said that between 2001 and 2008 it had chargesheeted nearly 3.92 lakh people, both Hindus and Muslims, residing in the State as ‘foreigners’ and referred their cases to the Foreigners’ Tribunals for adjudication.

The government, however, cautioned that if people took the law into their own hands and randomly detained any person merely on suspicion of being an illegal Bangladeshi migrant, then the process of adjudication would be defeated.

Government spokesman and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma told journalists here that following the recent judgment of the Gauhati High Court, which directed deportation of about 60 Bangladeshis, people in different parts were randomly detaining people merely on suspicion.

What was worrisome was that some of the chargesheeted people went missing after registration of cases against them and did not respond to tribunal summons, he said.

AASU calls for boycott

Several All-Assam Students Union units have asked “suspected Bangladeshis” to quit the State immediately. The AASU has also called for economic boycott of the suspects. The court said Bangladeshis had become kingmakers in Assam.

As for the deported Bangladeshi Kamaluddin, who the court pointed out was a candidate in Jamunamukh in the 1996 Assembly polls, Dr. Sharma said this foreigner would not be allowed to return.

Dr. Sharma said the government would convene an all-party meeting, after the return of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi from China, to the discuss the issue of missing “foreigners.” It would also convene a special Assembly session if the opposition so demanded.

Dr. Sharma alleged that while the Bharatiya Janata Party had been trying to communalise the foreigners’ issue by targeting only Muslims, the Asom Gana Parishad “systematically demolished the detection mechanism.”

The spokesman said that as against detection of 3.92 lakh foreigners by the Congress government, the AGP during its second tenure from 1996-2001 had made enquiries against only 4,274 people under the Foreigners’ Act and 30,000 people under the erstwhile Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act.

On updating the National Register of Citizens, he said the government had submitted the modalities for preparation of the NRC. The Centre would now be required to amend the NRC Act and rules thereunder to give the go-ahead for the State to compile the register.

Meanwhile, a day after the gherao of the Regional Passport office to protest alleged issuance of passports to infiltrators, leaders and workers of the AASU and organisations of Koch-Rajbanshis, Morans, Muttocks, Chutia, Tai-Ahoms and Tea-tribes sat on dharna in front of the Raj Bhavan on Thursday demanding immediate inclusion of these indigenous communities in the SC list and protection of their land, identity and culture from infiltrators.

Centre cautioned

On Wednesday, during the all-party meeting on the Amarnath issue, the AGP urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to convene an all-party meeting to discuss the foreigners problem in Assam and cautioned the Centre that if it was not addressed immediately, the situation would get out of hand.

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