Author: Editorial
Publication: The Sentinel
Date: June 4, 2002
India shares a 4,000 km long porous
border with Bangladesh, and the Centre seems to be according much importance
to the job of erecting a barbed wire fence to check the illegal infiltration
of Bangladeshi migrants that has continued to pose a serious threat to
the demography of the north-eastern region. The latest report of the Ministry
of Home Affairs (MHA), for the year 2001-2002, has provided details of
the plan for erection of the fence within the set deadline, 2007. The job
of erecting the fence in so far as Assam is concerned, along its 262 km
long border with Bangladesh, started soon after the Assam Accord was signed
in 1985. But, 17 years down the line, only 149 km have been fenced. Whether
New Delhi would be able to complete the job of raising the physical barrier
by 2007 is not the key issue. What needs to be analyzed is whether a fence
along the border can achieve the desired result - stopping the flow of
illegal Bangladeshi migrants into India. A border fence, that too of a
barbed wire variety, cannot totally halt illegal influx, but can certainly
act as a deterrent and minimize the inflow. Therefore, erecting a barbed
wire fence along the border with Bangladesh, that comprise a vast riverine
stretch, is not a permanent solution to the problem of illegal infiltration
from that country. This perhaps is the reason why analysts have been talking
of various others measures like issuing work permits to these migrants.
Some have suggested that multi-purpose identity cards must first be provided
to all Indian citizens in the North-east. Once that is done, Bangladeshis
wishing to work in the region or elsewhere in India must be given work
permits. This idea was virtually endorsed by Prime Minister Vajpayee during
an election rally at Silchar in May last year. The work permit idea, however,
may not work and could, on the contrary, open the floodgates for a wave
of new migration from Bangladesh into India. This is because those illegal
Bangladeshi migrants who have already settled down in Assam or elsewhere
and over the years managed to obtain one or more crucial documents such
as ration cards, and perhaps enrolled themselves in the voters' list, would
certainly not come forward to declare their Bangladeshi nationality should
the work permit system come to be introduced. After all, a huge unspecified
chunk of these illegal settlers are believed to have already managed to
dodge election authorities scanning the voters' list in Assam for names
of foreign nationals almost year after year since 1979. Now, it will be
too much to expect this chunk of settlers to stick their neck out by coming
forward to avail work permits if and when such a document is issued. But,
illegal Bangladeshis who may have already entered India in recent months
or those looking for an opportunity to cross the border would certainly
be tempted to avail of the work permits. This section of people, after
all, will have nothing to lose since they would still not have settled
down and established roots in India.
What then is a workable solution?
Improved policing of the border? That is easier said than done. An alternative
that appears to be toyed around by the pan-Assamese social milieu is integrating
or assimilating the "Muslims of East Bengal origin" into the "greater Assamese
society." By far the strongest indication of this was seen in February
this year at the special annual session of the Axom Xahitya Xabha (AXX),
Assam's apex socio-literary body, held for the first time at an immigrant-dominated
area anywhere in the State.
Delivering his presidential address
at the session held at the town of Kalgachia, in the western district of
Barpeta, Xabha president Homen Borgohain declared that the "Assamese Muslims
of East Bengal origin" are an integral part of the greater Assamese society
and urged upon his organization (the AXX) as well as the people in general
to initiate steps for the development of this section of the society. Borgohain
said: "Had they (Assamese Muslims of East Bengal origin) tried to keep
their Bengali origin intact, then the indigenous Assamese people would
have become a minority in their own homeland." An important question is
if one were to accept the "Muslims of East Bengal origin", that is the
pre-Bangladesh settlers, as part of the "greater Assamese society," what
about the post-1971 migrant settlers? The debate needs to go further. One
school of thought is of the view that the idea of integration or assimilation
has itself come up because of the growing realization that detection, let
alone deportation of the post-1971 migrants, is virtually impossible. Under
the circumstances, erection of a barbed wire fence along the Indo-Bangladesh
border is not a bad idea after all. At least that could act as an obstruction
for an easy border crossing.
