Author: Bureau
Publication: Assam Tribune
Date: August 12, 2008
URL: http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=aug1208/at05
Twenty-two students' and youth organisations
today joined hands in Tinsukia to demand immediate detection and deportation
of illegal Bangladeshis in the district, and served a 72-hour deadline to
the illegal immigrants to leave the district voluntarily or face dire consequences.
The groups include the Tinsukia district units of AASU, AJYCP, All Assam Muttock
Yuva Chatra Sanmilan, All Moran Students' Union, ATTSA, TMPK, Tai Ahom Yuva
Parishad, Bengali Yuva Chatra Parishad, and Bhojpuri Students' Union, among
others.
Office-bearers of the 22 organisatons met
this morning at Tinsukia to chalk out an agitational programme for detection
and deportation of illegal Bangladeshis in the district. They later briefed
the media about the decisions taken, which include the 72-hour deadline starting
Tuesday morning.
Speaking to this newspaper, youth leader Birinchi
Neog said: "The Gauhati High Court, a former Governor of Assam... all
have expressed concern at the alarming influx of illegal foreigners. These
persons have to be detected and deported at any cost." He said Assam
needs to have an Inner Line Permit system in place to discourage outsiders
from settling in the State, as is enforced in Arunachal Pradesh.
Neog squarely blamed the Assam government
and the district administrations for miserably failing to detect and deport
the huge number of illegal Bangladeshis. He stressed on the urgent need for
a special task force to detect and deport illegal foreigners in Assam.
AASU information secretary Pulok Gohain said
the government should go about its task of detecting and deporting illegal
foreigners with a sense of urgency, rather than issuing threats to the citizens
to refrain from taking the law into their own hands. "It is because the
ministers and officers are conniving with illegal foreigners which is forcing
the civil population to take steps to save the state," he added.
Migrants rounded up: Meanwhile, in keeping
with the ongoing hunt for illegal Bangladeshi settlers, the district unit
of AASU today compelled the district administration here to identify aliens
by laying siege on a hamlet on the bank of the Brahmaputra near Chandmari
Ghat. AASU workers rounded up more than a hundred suspected Bangladeshis from
the settlement that housed nearly 35 families. As men were away for work,
those rounded up included mostly women and malnourished children. The members
of the student body also reportedly resorted to aggression as they forced
entry into the homes of the suspected aliens and wrecked their huts. Huts
and belongings of a few families were also set ablaze.
However, AASU activists denied committing
any such violent acts.
The student body later handed over the suspects
to the police for verification. Additional Superintendent of Police (Border),
SR Mili also rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation. The claim
of the AASU that the settlers are Bangladeshis could not be confirmed, as
the police verification was going on till the filing of this report.
Tinsukia Correspondent adds: Today's meeting
held in Tinsukia urged both the district administration and police to take
initiative for detection and deportation of the illegal migrants and also
appealed to all the ward members of both gaon panchayats and civic bodies
to keep strict vigil against the presence of foreign nationals in their respective
areas.
It also urged the public in general of the
district not to employ and provide any shelter to doubtful citizens and urged
the civic bodies to re-examine the licenses of the rickshaw-pullers. The meeting
also urged all the parties, organisations or individuals concerned not to
give any communal colour to the foreign nationals issue.
