GUWAHATI: A move to filter Bangladesh nationals from genuine Indians in Assam is facing another layer of problem with certain people selling fake documents to illegal Bangladeshi immigrants to prove they are Indians.
This has come after NGOs pressuring the government to rehabilitate only the genuine Indians in the various relief camps set up after the recent Bodo-migrant Muslim clashes in Assam.
The making and selling of fake documents to Bangladeshis came to the open after the police arrested one Azizur Rehman in Dhubri district of Assam. Azizur Rehman is said to be a former worker of the Congress party in Assam. He had sold landholding papers, panchayat certificates, ration cards, electricity bills and other documents to turn Bangladeshis into Indians overnight. After the interrogation by the police Azizur Rehman had reportedly confessed about his activities. According to the police source, Rehman had earned nearly Rs 5 lakh He confessed for arranging such documents for more than 2,000 of Bangladeshis.
On September 23, the police had arrested Md Masud, Shohel Rana and Shafikul Islam from a hotel in Guwahati who were possessing Bangladeshi passports as well as Indian voter identity cards sold to them by a person identified as Shikhan Mian of Tripura.
It can be mentioned that North East Students Organisation (NESO) had held a massive rally in Guwahati on September 6 while shouting slogans such as “Bangladeshis go back, “Deport Bangladeshis”, “Save the North East region,” “Update the National Register of Citizens,” “Implement all clauses of the Assam Accord,” “Stop discriminating the people of the North East”. Around 30 thousand people led by NESO leaders took out a rally from Latasil of Guwahati on that day.
Student leaders from the region who conglomerated at Latasil had given a fiery speeches asking from the state governments as well as the Central government to formulate effective mechanism to “save the Northeast region” from foreigners.
Representing the Northeast MPs Forum, Birendra Prasad Baishya, a Rajya Sabha MP had advocated for the prevention of foreigners influx into the region.
He had said illegal immigration should be stopped immediately. Birendra Prasad Baishya also said the influx of foreigners into the region has threatened the very existence of the North East people and their lands.
Fuming over the failure by the successive governments both in Assam and at New Delhi to implement fully the Assam Accord of 1985, NESO leader Samujjal Bhattacharya had said unless the Accord if implemented successfully, problems will persist.
Seeing the mammoth turn-out of Friday’s rally, the NESO leader said that the peoples response to the protest rally indicated that “we are concerned about the situation” where foreigners are overshadowing the indigenous people.
On August 23 in Guwahati, issues on the illegal immigrants in the north east region, the prolonging fencing process of the government of India along the Indo-Bangla border and a policy to ensure the safety of the north east people in the mainland India were disccused in the NESO meeting. (NNN)