Author: Staff Reporter
Publication: Assam Tribune
Date: July 30, 2008
URL: http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=jul3008/at01
Believe it or not, an infiltrator with a Pakistani
passport had gone to the extent of contesting the Assam Assembly polls in
1996. This unprecedented incident was brought to the fore by the two judgements
passed by the Gauhati High Court that ordered deportation of 50-odd illegal
Bangladeshi settlers recently.
The hard-hitting court order by Justice BK
Sharma alluded to the case (Md Kamaruddin, reported in 2000 (2) GLT 79), in
which the petitioner, an infiltrator with a Pakistani passport, contested
the 1996 Assembly elections in Assam from the Jamunamukh constituency.
Terming the incident as something that "can
happen only in Assam", the court said, "The petitioner was in possession
of a passport issued by the Pakistan Government, on the strength of which
he travelled to Dhaka in Bangladesh from where he sneaked into Assam and even
contested the election."
This leaves little doubt as to the sinister
designs behind the unabated cross-border influx - that is to wrest political
control from the indigenous populace. In a significant observation, the court
noted, "If the phenomenon of cancerous growth of Bangladeshis continues,
the day is not far off, when the indigenous people of Assam, both Hindus and
Muslims and other religious groups, will be reduced to minorities in its own
land and the Bangladeshis, who are freely and merrily moving around the fertile
land of Assam, will intrude upon the corridors of power."
The court also came down heavily on corrupt
and inefficient government officials and police besides political parties
which makes it possible for the illegal migrants to have easy access to vital
documents such as ration card, voters' list and even passport.
"The discrepancies (in the documents)
are so glaring that it cannot escape the notice of any prudent man, more particularly,
the authorities of the Regional Passport Office entrusted with the solemn
duty of issuing passports to genuine Indian citizens," the court said
while disposing one of the recent cases, adding that the police was equally
callous in not noticing the anomalies in the documents provided by the illegal
Bangladeshi settler.
"If the sovereignty, unity and integrity
of India are being upheld in the above manner by the authorities entrusted
with the task, it is easily conceivable as to what is in store for Assam,"
it said.
The court also observed that "some political
parties have been encouraging and even helping illegal migration with a view
to building vote banks…Moreover, with corruption being all-pervasive,
corrupt officials are bribed to provide help."
The developments make it clear that the infiltrators
are not only consolidating their numerical strength in Assam but are also
having a major impact on the political process, especially in the matter of
electing public representatives.
