Author: Joginder Singh
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: August 21, 2011
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/362363/Silent-invasion-of-India.html
Illegal immigration from Pakistan and Bangladesh
poses a serious threat to our internal security. Thanks to vote-bank politics,
our politicians are indifferent.
Our international border is around 15,318
km long, of which our boundary with Bangladesh is 4,000 km long, running along
West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura. It is the Government of
India's responsibility to guard the country's international border and prevent
foreigners from entering our territory illegally as well as control the entry
of those travelling with valid documents. This is a responsibility that the
Government has clearly failed to fulfil as was evident from a statement by
the Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs: "As per information
available, 1,283 Pakistani nationals (who presumably entered India legally)
remain untraced/missing as of June 30, 2011."
A month earlier, while replying to a query
under the RTI Act in July, the Government had said: "It is not possible
to estimate the total number of such foreign nationals, including Pakistani
and Bangladeshi nationals, who have entered into the country without valid
travel documents and are staying in the country since entry of such foreign
nationals into the country is clandestine and surreptitious." The response
also added that over 73,000 people from various countries have stayed on even
after their visas expired; nearly 50 per cent of these people were from Bangladesh
and about 10 per cent were from Pakistan, according to data available as of
December 31, 2009. In 1996, the then Union Minister for Home Affairs, Indrajit
Gupta, had informed Parliament that over 25 million Bangladeshis were illegally
living in India.
The fact remains that despite the threat of
cross-border terrorism faced by the country from illegal immigrants, the Ministry
of Affairs does not maintain a centralised source of information on people
crossing the border to enter India from Pakistan and Bangladesh without valid
documents. Except where it suits its own concerns, the Union Government refuses
to act even in the face of judicial pronouncement. The Supreme Court held
in 2005 that provisions of the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals)
Act of 1983 were ultra vires to the Constitution and were accordingly struck
down. The Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Rules, 1984, were
also determined to be ultra vires and hence were struck down.
The issue of illegal immigration has and continues
to figure in high-level meetings related to internal security. It has figured
prominently at the Chief Ministers' Conference on Internal Security and Law
and Order held in New Delhi. At this conference serious differences emerged
among the north-eastern States on the issue of illegal immigration - some
States openly accused Assam of contributing to the mounting problem of illegal
immigration in the region.
The then Chief Minister of Nagaland virtually
charged Assam with not taking any steps to check illegal immigration from
Bangladesh. He said, "Assam has almost become a breeding ground for illegal
immigrants as they are procuring documents like ration cards in that State
and then coming to the hills. This is very dangerous." He also claimed
that such immigrants were being settled in areas that were under dispute between
Assam and several other States. He even urged Assam to settle its decades-long
boundary disputes with Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur
in an accommodative spirit as it was the largest State in the region.
According to a former Governor of Assam, "57
of Assam's 126 constituencies were found to have more than a 20 per cent increase
in the number of voters between 1994 and 1997, whereas the all-India average
was just 7.4 per cent." This dramatic increase indicated the addition
of a large number of voters who were really illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
He added that a revision of electoral rolls in Mongoldoi parliamentary constituency
in Assam in 1979 detected the names of thousands of Bangladeshi nationals
and the entire population of Assam revolted against this development.
The former Governor also felt that without
knowing the long-term effects of the issue, Indian Muslims by and large were
sympathetic to Bangladeshi immigrants. Thus, the illegal immigrants now have
a much larger say in the political affairs of the country. For instance, when
the Government of Maharashtra tried to deport a few hundred illegal Bangladeshi
immigrants, several parties started a chorus of protests that were politically
motivated.
There is a direct relationship between the
voting patterns of illegal immigrants and the freebies given by political
parties to win their votes in elections. This unholy nexus creates roadblocks
at different levels, especially when it comes to checking the continued problem
of illegal immigration which also gives rise to the possibility that such
elements could possibly become sleeper cells of terrorist organisations and
help them launch terror attacks within India.
The truth is that even though all politicians
realise the enormity of this problem, their craving for electoral gains and
desperation to secure the votes of illegal immigrants make them ignore the
imminent dangers of the problem. Politics in our country has become hostage
to political expediency which is often disguised as 'principles'. These 'principles'
are frequently tailored to suit the occasion.
The trouble is that politicians world over
are essentially the same. Most will say anything to get themselves elected
to office. Later, they hope that they can escape scrutiny on account of the
fact that the people have a short memory and tend to forget pre-election promises.
Thus, all of us who participate in the electoral process (as well as those
who don't come out to vote on polling day) are responsible for the rise of
bad politicians to power. The time has come to tell people who don't vote
that they can't complain about the quality of politicians who are elected
to office.
A senior politician who has served as the
Speaker of the Lok Sabha once pleaded for identity cards to be given to all
people in the North-East, including illegal immigrants from Bangladesh living
in Assam. A former Governor of Arunachal Pradesh and West Bengal holds that
at least five million Bangladeshis who entered India illegally have settled
in Assam. They constitute a fourth of the State's population of 22 million
people. According to estimates prepared by the Ministry of Home Affairs and
the Intelligence Bureau, Assam's alien population from Bangladesh stands at
about four million.
These statistical details not only indicate
the magnitude of the problem of illegal immigration but also reflect the enormity
of the security threat that the country is facing on account of this. This
is apart from the fact that illegal immigration deprives Indian citizens of
employment opportunities. All countries, including Western nations, especially
the US, ensure and protect their citizens' job opportunities and, unlike our
Government, are not apologetic about doing so .
Machiavelli, Hobbes and others have defined
man as a lump of matter whose most politically relevant attribute is a form
of energy called "self-interestedness." In this context, it means
that the issue is simply not one of changing religious demographics or illegal
immigration; it is not about being remorseful or repentant for taking a stand
wherein we do not protect our own self-interests. As the former Australian
Prime Minister, Mr Gough Whitlam, once said: "The punters know that the
horse named Morality rarely gets past the winning post, whereas the horse
named Self-Interest always runs a good race." The Government should know
one horse from another!
