The Assam government is in denial mode over the issue
of Bangladeshis crossing into the State and unless there is an agreement
over extraditing them, the problem will not be resolved, according to
Alaka Sarma, Economics Professor at Gauhati University and former
vice-president of the Asom Gana Parishad.
Ms. Sarma,
who visited relief camps in Kokrajhar and Dhubri, said the 1985 Assam
Accord remained only on paper and India’s border with Bangladesh and
other countries was open. Had the tenets of the Assam Accord been
adhered to, and the borders sealed, the influx would not have occurred,
she said at a meeting organised by the Press Club here on Monday.
After
the recent violence, Assam witnessed “the country’s largest exodus” and
about four lakh people were living in camps with no prospect of
returning home, as everything was razed to the ground.
Ms.
Sarma, who represented Nalbari twice as MLA and who lost her husband, a
former Cabinet Minister in a bomb blast in 2000, said that from 1979 to
1985 there was a strong movement in Assam against foreign nationals,
culminating in the signing of Assam Accord. However, 27 years later,
things had not changed. People from Bangladesh walk over to India for
daily wages and then return and in addition, the steady flow of migrants
had created problems and a clash of culture with the local tribal
people, including Bodos.
The riots were not about
pitting one religion against another. The Assam government was aware of
the tensions and this violence was a failure of the government to check
the same. Quoting statements made in Parliament, Ms. Sarma said 80,000
Bangladeshis entered Assam with legal documents but vanished without a
trace.
She said that according to the Foreigners
Act, the onus of proof was on the person charged with being an illegal
immigrant, but under the Illegal Migrants Determination by Tribunal Act,
which was operational in Assam till 2005, the onus was on the
complainant. Some time ago, 54,000 people were identified as foreigners
but they were not deported. In 1985, in Assam, about two lakh people
were in the category of doubtful voters, she said, estimating at least
four lakh migrants from Bangladesh in the State. The number could be
higher.
“There is no treaty with Bangladesh on
extradition and that is posing problems since these people would not be
accepted back if India deported them,” she pointed out. The issue of
extradition was not mentioned in the Assam Accord.
No comments:
Post a Comment