Bangladesh: Assam as Gateway for Illegal Immigrants
by Anand Kumar
The concern over illegal Bangladeshi immigrants has been growing in India . The state to suffer the most because of this is Assam . But what is worse, these illegal immigrants have not only got settled in Assam in large numbers, they are now using the local state machinery to legalize their status by procuring documents. And, after doing so, they are fanning out in other northeastern states. This is making the job of detection of illegal immigrants virtually impossible and has started changing the demography of even other northeastern states.
Assam shares nearly 270 km border with Bangladesh , most of which is riverine and hence difficult to fence. The lush paddy fields and the sandy, shifting plains of the mighty Brahmaputra river that divides the countries are natural transit routes. Hundreds of people come to India from Bangladesh by crossing the river with the help of rickety boats. This river is at some places about 15 km (9.5 miles) wide. As a result Assam has been acting as a gateway for Bangladeshis to enter India . This large-scale infiltration from across the border has been threatening the region's demographic profile.
Assam has been facing the problem of illegal immigration for a long time. But, its magnitude was realized only after the second reorganization of the state (1972). Between 1979 and 1985, the All Assam Students Union had spearheaded an agitation against the foreigners culminating in the August 15, 1985 Assam Accord. But, before this in 1983, the Congress government in Assam had imposed the IMDT Act which practically sealed the fate of state. Despite the signing of Assam Accord its clauses on the deportation of foreigners have still not been implemented and the issue was more or less relegated to the backburner.
There are no official figures of actual numbers of Bangladeshis in Assam . According to local estimates, their population could be six million of the state's 26 million people. According to a group of ministers on national security, there were 12 million Bangladeshi immigrants in the country in 2001 with 5 million in Assam alone. The UPA government has, however, rubbished this estimate, arguing that there is no basis for this figure. But it has acknowledged that the number is significant. Union minister of state for home Sri Prakash Jaiswal had earlier said in Parliament that there were 5 million Bangladeshi settlers in Assam . He, however, retracted the statement later under pressure.
Given the complex and politically sensitive nature of the problem, the state and central government want to go slow over the issue. But to their discomfort, this issue refuses to disappear as the magnitude of the problem is increasing.
The illegal Bangladeshis are not just beginning to emerge as a strong economic force, they are also gaining political muscle through larger numbers. A large number of them have got their names included in the electoral rolls of the state. They have become dominant in five districts of Assam and have become a decisive factor in at least 56 of the state's 126 assembly constituencies. Due to this, locals fear gradual transfer of power in the hands of these migrants as their number is increasing. Besides, the increasing number of Bangladeshi immigrants is also leading to law and order problem in many areas of Assam and elsewhere.
This problem was highlighted by Lt. Gen. (Retd.) S K Sinha, the then governor of Assam , in November 1998, in a report to the President. In his assessment he had said, "As a result of population movement from Bangladesh , the specter looms large of the indigenous people of Assam being reduced to a minority in their home state. Their cultural survival will be in jeopardy, their political control will be weakened and their employment opportunities will be undermined. This silent and invidious demographic invasion of Assam may result in the loss of the geo-strategically vital districts of Lower Assam . The influx of these illegal migrants is turning these districts into a Muslim majority region. It will then only be a matter of time when a demand for their merger with Bangladesh may be made. He feared that this may ultimately result in loss of entire northeast to India . But Tarun Gogoi, the then Assam Congress chief demanded his recall because he had cast an "aspersion" on the loyalty and the commitment of the Muslims to the country.
Similar report has been prepared by the present Assam Governor Lt. Gen (retd) Ajai Singh. This report also expresses concern over large-scale infiltration from across the border with Bangladesh . The outgoing judge of the IMDT Tribunal, which is supposed to detect and deport infiltrators, has also admitted that infiltration is continuing on a large scale.
The issue of illegal immigration figured prominently during the Chief Minister's Conference on Internal Security and Law and Order, held in New Delhi on April 15. In this conference serious differences emerged among the northeastern states on this issue and some states even openly accused Assam of contributing to the illegal immigration problem in northeast. The Nagaland Chief Minister virtually charged Assam for not taking any step to check it. He said, " Assam has almost become a breeding ground for illegal migrants as they are procuring documents like ration cards there and then coming to the hills, this is very dangerous." Rio also claimed that such migrants were being settled in disputed areas between Assam and several other states. He also urged Assam to settle the decades-long boundary disputes with Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur in an accommodative spirit as it was the largest state in the region.
To deal with this alarming situation, the northeastern chief ministers asked the Centre to increase security along the international borders and help them strengthen their police forces. Meghalaya Chief Minister D D Lapang said, "The Centre should strengthen the presence of Border Security Force along the borders with Bangladesh should enhance its manpower and modernize its mechanism for checking immigration. We also expect financial support for modernizing our police forces." Similar sentiments were also expressed by Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Gegong Apang, Manipur CM O Ibobi Singh, Mizoram CM Zoramthanga and Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio. They also stated that they were willing to consider the offer of centre of a unified command with an open mind.
The states argued that illegal migration has increased manifold and was posing a security threat. West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya even sought Central intervention, alleging that Pakistan s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was making use of the porous border. It is believed that Pakistani ISI, encouraged by the findings of Census 2001, has launched Operation "PIN Code," to bring the Northeast under Islamic umbrella through demographic invasion. It is helped in this effort by the Bangladeshi policy of transferring its surplus population to India .
The complaints of northeastern chief ministers forced the Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to contemplate some action. After a meeting with the Prime Minister on May 5, Gogoi said that all foreigners who entered Assam after March 24, 1971 the day before Mujibur Rehman made his call for an Independent Bangladesh will be detected and deported. He said, The state government, the Centre and the All Assam Students Union (AASU) are in agreement over this. There are no two opinions. The only difference is in the method we will use to find the foreigners. Gogoi said that the state government was in favour of using the Illegal Migrants Determination Tribunal (IMDT) for the purpose, since it provides for the natural justice of the judicial system. He also demanded at least two more BSF battalions to man an additional 18 outposts as a second line of defence against infiltrators from Bangladesh .
But towards the end of April, a youth organization, Chiring Chapori Yuva Mancha began a campaign against the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. This organization of Dibrugarh announced economic sanctions against Bangladeshi migrants, triggering an exodus of suspected illegal settlers from the town. This development caused complete change in the stand of Assam Chief Minister.
With less than a year to go for assembly elections in Assam , Gogoi feared its implications on his political fortune. He lost no time in dubbing the campaign by the Chiring Chapori Yuva Mancha as a game plan of the BJP. He even went to the extent of saying that those who left Dibrugarh were not Bangladeshis but Indian citizens. However, he rhetorically repeated that his government was committed to detecting and deporting illegal migrants from Assam .
Just few weeks ago, Assam Chief Minister had informed the Supreme Court that "large-scale illegal immigration from Bangladesh " was a problem. But, now he changed his position and said that he does not consider the influx "threatening". He also claimed that infiltration was on the decline over the last three years.
Along with the Assam government, the central government also seems to have taken a U-turn on its resolve to deport at least 3,000 Bangladeshi migrants every month. The Union Home Ministry decided to do a rethink on the policy, as it felt the deportation exercise was unimplementable. Officials of the ministry say that this rethink was due to reluctance of Bangladesh Rifles to take back the migrant Bangladeshis. Besides, the ministry feels that pushing back of illegal migrants was an inhuman practice and will not be encouraged under any circumstances. It is now treating the issue of illegal migrants as a human problem.
The ministry also says that according to international law and convention, after an illegal immigrant is refused Bangladeshi citizenship, India has to allow them to stay on till a decision is reached on their citizenship status. The government is also reportedly planning to give them a resident card instead of a citizenship card.
Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil on May 24 stated that the issue of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in the country "should not be raised so much that it spoils relations with the neighbouring country" especially at a time when the country is engaged in confidence building measures with its neighbours like Pakistan and China . Earlier, after the chief ministers conference in New Delhi , Patil had declared that the problem of Bangladeshi immigrants had to be handled in a humane manner.
The Border Security Force is also now reportedly unwilling to take this exercise of deporting illegal immigrants. It argues that looking after the migrants once the BDR refuses to allow them in Bangladeshi territory is becoming a huge drain on its resources.
No doubt, the forcible pushing back of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants is not going to solve the problem, given its magnitude. But, at the same time, the government can not afford to give the message that it has given up. Moreover, the stringent measures taken by the BSF against the illegal migrants also acts as a deterrent and conveys the message that they are not welcome and may be punished if caught.
Though, the fencing of the border is the most effective way to check this influx, it will not eliminate the problem. This is because at least a thousand kilometer of the Indo-Bangladesh border can not be simply fenced as it is riverine. Thus the fencing, in any case would have to be complemented with a strong and effective border patrolling.
The difficulties of handling the problem of illegal immigration should not make the government give up. Instead, it calls for a greater preparation to deal with the issue. The magnitude of the problem and its spread beyond a state or two ask for creation of a special government department which handles only the issue of illegal migration from Bangladesh . To send these migrants back to their country would require a nodal agency which can coordinate with security forces, foreign policy establishment and local state machinery. This job can not be done only by the BSF. New departments were created even in the US after the attack on twin towers to handle the menace of terrorism. India also need better preparation to manage the problem of illegal immigration, which if ignored can seriously harm its internal security. It could also prove to be a big destabilizing factor by causing social tension in different parts of the country.
Unfortunately, so far state government has not done anything which inspires confidence in its sincerity. On the contrary, the statements given by both the state as well as central ministers give the impression that now they have assumed that the problem of illegal immigration is unsolvable. Probably, they now hope that the issue would die down with the passage of time. As the illegal immigrants spill over to the neighbouring states, it will be only a matter of time before they start calling shots in even those states. As of now, India appears to be ceding ground to these migrants. If no concerted effort is made to check the menace, it will not be long before our eastern neighbour fulfills its objective of greater Bangladesh .
