Author: Our Special Correspondent
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: December 15, 2004
URL: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1041215/asp/nation/story_4130467.asp
Union home minister Shivraj Patil
has said the Centre will make a distinction between illegal Bangladeshis
who are living in this country for a livelihood and those fomenting insurgency.
"We will definitely send back illegal
Bangladeshis to their country. But we will make a distinction between those
who have come here for a living and those who are armed insurgents," said
the home minister in his reply to a debate on internal security. He stressed
that the government will see to it that genuine citizens are not harassed.
Patil in his lengthy response took
on the main Opposition party, the BJP, which has accused the Centre of
turning "soft" and even of encouraging insurgency groups like the Naxalites.
The home minister for his part made it clear that the BJP's preoccupation
with Bangladeshi immigrants is motivated by "communal" considerations.
"If you speak only of Bangladeshis,
you are looking at the problem from a communal perspective," said Patil.
He said the Centre has spoken to
the Bangladesh government about the insurgency groups. "The Bangladesh
government is ready to help us but wants to be sure that our apprehensions
are right. We are talking to them," stressed Patil.
The minister rebuffed his critics
- those who want the Centre to call off its dialogue with insurgency groups
- particularly those from the radical Left.
The home minister said the Centre
will continue to have talks with the Naxalites. "Dialogue is part of the
democratic process. We are chips of the same block," said Patil.
Dismissing the BJP's argument that
a dialogue with the Naxalites is tantamount to "encouraging" insurgency,
Patil said that in Andhra Pradesh, Naxalite violence-related deaths have
come down from 72 to two after the state government began a dialogue with
the Naxalite groups.
"These are our brothers who have
gone astray. We have a duty to bring them back to the family fold. It is
only through a dialogue that a solution is possible," said the home minister.
His predecessor L.K. Advani, in
contrast, was an advocate of "hot pursuit" even though infiltration across
the Indo-Pak border was on the rise as were incidents of violence during
the National Democratic Alliance's tenure.
