Declared foreigners by Tribunals, over 38,000 Bangladeshi infiltrators missing in Assam

Since 1985, as many as 38,186 as foreigners who had illegally entered Assam from Bangladesh.

Even as the government has taken a series of measures to detect and deport Bangladeshi infiltrators in Assam, over 38,000 such persons declared as foreigners by Tribunals have gone missing in the state since 1985, with the state government saying most of them had either absconded and some may have died.

“The Foreigners’ Tribunals have since 1985 declared as many as 38,186 as foreigners who had illegally entered Assam from Bangladesh. But while only 2,448 among them have been pushed back to Bangladesh, over 38,000 of them are either absconding or were dead,” Bhumidhar Barman, minister for Assam Accord implementation informed the state assembly here on Tuesday. Moreover, 68 of them are currently lodged in detention camps awaiting expulsion, he informed.

The government’s statement, which was in the form of a reply to a question by AGP legislator Phani Bhushan Choudhury during question hour in the on-going budget session in the state assembly, came on a day when the Gauhati Police Commissionerate had issued a notice seeking information on four persons who had absconded after the Guwahati High Court declared them as foreigners (Bangladeshi nationals) about a month ago.

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An advertisement put out by the Guwahati Police Commissionerate in several local newspapers on Tuesday said four persons – Aminul Hussain (26), Jakia Aymon (22), Amirul Hussain (14) and Azizul Hussain (11) – had absconded after the Gauhati High Court declared them as foreigners. Residents of Col J Ali Road in Panbazar in the heart of the Assam capital, the four were declared as foreigners by a High Court order in January 31.

The minister also informed the state assembly that fencing work of 176.314 km of land border entrusted to the Assam government had been already completed, with only 0.06 km – an approach road to a bridge – has remained incomplete due to erosion. Erecting fence along the disputed area of 3.57 km, which is being carried out by central government agencies, was expected to be completed soon, the minister informed. “Floodlights are being installed along the 213.74 km long Assam-Bangladesh border and the work is scheduled to be completed by March 31, 2015,” he added.

It was only last week that Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju had told Rajya Sabha that some Bangladeshis were able to manage to enter India illegally despite several checks and control measures taken along the international boundary. “Since entry of such illegal Bangladeshi nationals is clandestine and surreptitious, it is not possible to have accurate data of such illegal Bangladeshi nationals,” Rijiju had said.

While the Assam Accord signed in 1985 between AASU and the government of India had fixed March 25, 1971 as the cut-off date for detection and deportation of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Assam, numerous hurdles including the controversial Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act of 1983 – since squashed by the Supreme Court in 2005 – had only made detection and more particularly deportation extremely difficult. Bangladesh, for instance, refuses to accept that there has been any influx to India at all.

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