Author: Rajeev Ranjan Roy
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: August 13, 2007
For the Supreme Court, the illegal Bangladeshi
migrants are a security threat, but not for the United Progressive Alliance
(UPA) Government. Millions of illegal migrants do not constitute any threat
to the country's internal security if one goes by the status paper of Ministry
of Home Affairs on 'Internal Security Situation'. The status paper has strikingly
bypassed illegal Bangladeshi migrants.
The silence of Home Ministry's status paper
appears to be in contravention of a Supreme Court observation, underlining
the gravity of the situation arising out of the burgeoning number of illegal
Bangladeshis in the country.
Hearing public interest litigation in February
2001, a Supreme Court bench expressed fear that unchecked migration of Bangladesh
citizens to India posed a threat, both to the economy and the security of
the country.
"They are eating into the economy of
the country and, to a large extent, are becoming a security threat,"
the Bench comprising Chief Justice of India AS Anand, Justice RC Lahoti and
Justice Brijesh Kumar said and sought a direction to the Government to stop
the menace of illegal entry of foreign citizens into the country.
The status paper simply refers to the terrorist
outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), which 'use
territory and elements in Bangladesh and Nepal for movement of terrorists
and finances.'
The paper running into 56 pages does talk
of 'Pakistan-based and ISI-sponsored LeT, JeM, and Al Badr terror outfits
continue to attack soft targets like tourists, pilgrims, minorities, non-State
subjects and the security forces on guard.'
"The terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan
and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) are yet to be dismantled and being used
by Pakistan-based and ISI-sponsored outfits like LeT and JeM. "They maintain
continuous flow of finances to sustain terrorist network and target vital
installations and economic infrastructure, provoke communal tensions to create
a wedge between communities," the status paper says.
The Supreme Court on July 14, 2005 ruled that
the Centre had not done its duty to protect Assam from "external aggression"
due to continuance of the IMDT Act (Illegal Migrant (Determination by Tribunal)
Act encouraging rampant illegal migration from Bangladesh.
Striking down the IMDT Act as unconstitutional,
a Bench of Chief Justice of India RC Lahoti, Justice GP Mathur and PK Balasubramnyan
said the law on illegal migrants enacted by the Centre for Assam 'negated
the mandate' of Article 355 of the Constitution casting a duty on it to protect
every State against external aggression and internal disturbance.
"The influx of Bangladeshi nationals
who have illegally migrated into Assam posed a threat to the integrity and
security of the northeast region, the apex court had said.
The court had said that the presence of such
a large number of illegal migrants from Bangladesh, which runs into millions,
was in fact an 'aggression' on the State of Assam and has also contributed
significantly in causing serious 'internal disturbances' in the shape of insurgency
of alarming proportion making the life of people of Assam wholly insecure
and the panic generated thereby has created a fear psychosis."
Referring to the security situation in Assam,
where the concentration of illegal Bangladeshis is very high, the Home Ministry
in the status paper claimed that United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) accounted
for 'more than 50 per cent of the violent incidents in 2006. The State witnessed
a spurt in ULFA violence in January 2007.' The paper does not mention if the
illegal Bangladeshis pose any threat at all.
The issue of illegal migrants and the abuse
of Bangladesh's territory rocked the Lok Sabha on May 9, 2007, when External
Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee claimed that there were only 15-20 lakh
'illegal' Bangladeshi migrants in India.
The Opposition benches outrightly rejected
his claim, saying the illegal migrants from Dhaka run into several millions.
Inderjit Gupta, then Home Minister, stated in the Parliament on May 6, 1997
that there were 10 million illegal migrants residing in the country.
