Author: Durba Ghosh
Publication: Rediff.com
Date: August 14, 2007
URL: http://ia.rediff.com/news/2007/aug/14assam.htm
It is 22 years since the historic Assam Accord
to settle the contentious 'foreigners' issue was implemented, but illegal
migration continues unabated in the Northeastern state.
Influx from Bangladesh has assumed alarming
proportion in recent months, threatening to create tension between different
states of the Northeast.
This, however, has proved an uphill task for
all successive governments, including the two Asom Gana Parishad government
led by Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, regarded as the brain behind the foreigners'
agitation.
Assam Accord Implementation Minister Bhumidhar
Barman said during the last three-and-a-half years from 2004 to June 2007,
only 11 Bangladeshis were deported though 110 were detected in 2004, 117 in
2005, 60 in 2006 and 118 up to June 2007.
Barman said nearly 85 per cent of the border-fencing
was completed and the entire process was expected to be over next year.
All Assam Students' Union advisor Samujjal
Bhattacharya alleged that the government lacked the political will to detect
and deport Bangladeshis and the problem lingered creating a dangerous impact
on the demographic pattern of the state.
"The problem of infiltration has plagued
the state for decades .The government is interested only in vote-bank politics
and not in solving the problem which threatens the very existence of the indigenous
Assamese," he said.
The Assam Accord was signed on August 15,
1985 between the Centre and representatives of AASU and All Assam Gana Sangram
Parishad, which spearheaded the movement.
The Accord says, "Foreigners who came
to Assam on or after March 25, 1971 shall continue to be detected, deleted
and expelled in accordance with law. Immediate and practical steps shall be
taken to expel such foreigners."
The recent pushing back of suspected illegal
migrants from neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland has also created
tension with the Congress government in Assam. They claim that they are genuine
Indian citizens, while the other two states maintain that they are of "doubtful
origin".
