Author: Dr. Anand Kumar
Publication: September 11, 2008
Date: South Asia Analysis Group
URL: http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers29/paper2838.html
After returning from the 28th India-Bangladesh
Border Coordination Conference in Dhaka, the BSF chief A K Mitra disclosed
that nearly 12 lakh Bangladeshis who had entered India on valid papers have
disappeared between 1972 to 2005. He was quoting this figure from the intelligence
reports of the West Bengal government. This is one of the few official figures
about the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants whose number has been estimated to
be around 20 million and growing by the day. Out of this number nearly 6 million
illegal Bangladeshis are residing in Assam only, where they have turned five
of the bordering districts into migrant majority areas. What is however, most
concerning is that these illegal immigrants are now threatening to swamp tribal
and rural areas of Assam and other parts of the country.
This development has been taking place under
the nose of the authorities some of whom could not act because of the earlier
Illegal Migrants' Determination by Tribunals (IMDT) Act. But even after this
Act became defunct due to the Supreme Court judgment the deportation of Bangladeshis
has not been taking place at a desired pace prompting the Guwahati High Court
to say in a recent judgment on July 23, 2008 that the Bangladeshi migrants
have become the kingmakers. The landmark judgment of the high court also observed
that a strong political will to free Assam from illegal Bangladeshis was the
need of the hour. The judgment was passed while disposing the petitions of
61 petitioners after they were pronounced as foreigners by the respective
Foreigners' Tribunals.
One of these migrants, Md Kamaluddin was in
possession of a Pakistani passport on which he had travelled to Bangladesh
and subsequently reached Assam where he even filed a nomination during the
1996 Assembly polls. Chief minister Tarun Gogoi criticised the High Court
judge's comment. However, the immediate reaction of Gogoi was nothing but
an attempt to push the issue under the carpet. Earlier in 2005 an outgoing
judge of IMDT Tribunal had made similar remarks.
The court remarks have prompted some political
organizations like the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) to threaten another
Assam Agitation to take the "oust-Bangladeshi mission." Their activists
along with the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chattra Parishad (AJYCP) rounded up
hundreds of people, suspected to be Bangladeshis, from various parts of the
state and later handed them over to the police.
The growing sentiment against illegal immigration
has led to social tension in Assam. This led to a clash in northern Assam's
Udalguri district during a 12-hour general strike enforced by a minority students'
group. In these clashes two people were killed and six others were injured.
Unfortunately, any move against the illegal
immigrants soon takes communal colour. The Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF)
led by Badruddin Ajmal in a statement said that it would not remain quiet
if the religious sentiments of the minorities were hurt on the pretext of
dealing with foreigners.
The AUDF working president Hafiz Rashid Choudhury
even suggested that the government of India should try and persuade Bangladesh
government to sign extradition treaty. The Indian government has been pursuing
this matter with the Bangladeshi government but its effort has not succeeded.
First for the Bangladesh government, the issue of illegal migration does not
exist. Second this treaty would also necessitate that Bangladesh hands over
insurgent leaders staying in that country. For that the government is not
ready.
The problem of illegal migration in worsening
by the day. The illegal migrants are now no longer limited to major cities
and their suburbs. They are now entering into rural and tribal areas. In Assam
the problem of illegal migration now threatens to swamp even the tribal areas.
According to Stelin Ingti, president, Karbi Students' Union about one lakh
illegal immigrants are staying in the Karbi Anglong district. With the problem
of infiltration of Bangladeshi immigrants now spreading to tribal belts of
Assam, the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) has joined hands with two tribal
students' unions - the Karbi Students' Union (KSU) and All Dimasa Students'
Union (ADSU) to fight the problem in an effective manner.
The increasing pressure on migrants in upper
Assam make some of them move to the five immigrant-dominated districts of
Dhubri, Goalpara, Kokrajhar, Morigaon and Nagoan in Lower Assam. This time
a large number of immigrants trickled into Meghalaya plains. According to
the Garo Students Union (GSU), the plains areas, especially Phulbari, Rajabala,
Mahendraganj and Tikrikilla areas of the Garo hills, are a cause for concern
as the Bangladeshis have made their homes in these border areas. There are
instances when illegal Bangladeshi settlers have married residents in the
border areas to claim rights and privileges from Meghalaya. To avoid an Assam
like situation, the Garo Students Union (GSU) has threatened to launch an
eviction drive against illegal Bangladeshi migrants.
Assam is now acting as a gateway through which
illegal migrants are trickling in other states of northeast like Manipur,
Nagaland and Meghalaya. Migrants move directly to Tripura because of contiguous
porous border.
Central government has taken some steps to
check the migration. The most important step has been fencing of the border.
This fencing work is now nearing completion. Though the fencing has not completely
stopped the illegal movement of Bangladeshis it has definitely put check.
In case of Tripura out of 860 km porous border that it shares with Bangladesh,
over 700 km have been fenced and the remaining portion would be fenced soon.
This has also improved law and order situation in the bordering areas where
predators from Bangladesh used to attack villages on Indian side.
India shares its longest border with Bangladesh.
The India-Bangladesh border runs along 2,979 kilometers (1,851 miles) of land
while 1,116 kilometers is riparian. Border patrolling poses real challenge
in riverine area. It has also been found that the earlier scheme of floating
border posts have proved to be a non-starter. Hence in its place the BSF has
decided to use speed boats to patrol. The government has also decided to raise
two India Reserve Battalions (IRBs) and deploy for riverine policing.
The improved patrolling on the Indo-Bangladesh
seems to have shown some result. The BSF chief recently stated that in 2007
only 807 illegal immigrants were arrested along the Indo-Bangla border in
comparison to five years ago when thousands of such persons were apprehended
by BSF.
However, the difficulty in crossing the land
border has not deterred Bangladeshis from coming to India. Many of them are
now taking sea route. They are now reaching newer states like Orissa through
boats. A large number of Orissa districts are now infested with these migrants.
Lakhs of Bangladeshi infiltrators are staying in Kendrapara, Nawarangpur,
Malkangiri, Bhubaneswar, Puri, Chilika, Ganjam, Balasore, Keonjhar and several
other places.
Bangladeshis are now moving into rural area
of several states. In West Bengal illegal Bangladeshi migrants have trickled
into parts of rural Bengal, including Nandigram, over the years, and settled
down as sharecroppers with the help of local Left leaders. Several districts
of Bihar are also similarly affected.
Our border guards can play their role only
on the border, which is already very difficult because of the porous nature
of this border. Unless, they get help from the civil administration, no effective
check on the problem of illegal immigration can be exercised. In fact, often
the civil administration rather than helping the BSF is found helping the
illegal migrants. In a number of cases, the papers of these migrants are ready
even before they have entered Indian territory. There are touts operating
on the border who are providing all kinds of services for sums as little as
700 Rupees. Even when the BSF manages to catch some of these illegal migrants
they face legal hassles and hostile local population as most of these bordering
districts in Assam as well as West Bengal has become Bangladeshi dominant.
FIRs are lodged implicating BSF officers. Bangladeshis are often helped in
the effort by the local politicians.
The problem of of illegal immigration from
Bangladesh has already become a threatening one. In the past, it affected
the demography of several Indian states, but now it is posing serious internal
security threat, as among these migrants a large number of them are Jihadi
elements. They have been found to be involved in many of the recent bomb-blasts
which took place in India. They also act as sleeper cells of terrorist groups
like HUJI and LeT. Intelligence agencies like the ISI and the DGFI are also
implementing their disruptive designs through them. It's high time that a
coordinated effort is made to check this menace.
(The author can be reached at e-mail: anandkrai@yahoo.com)
