[Assam] BSF failed to control influx, govt. betrayed people of assam on Assam Accord

Sat Dec 30 21:43:01 PST 2006

BSF failed to control influx, illegel immigrants continue with the active help of BSF. Govt. betrayed people of assam on Assam Accord. Year 2007 is going to be worse for assam and northeast.

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File photo of BSF personnel patrolling the border road in Kathalcherri village, 170 km south of Agartala.  UNI

Influx problem remains unsolved, spills over to 2007
By R Dutta Choudhury
 GUWAHATI, Dec 30  Yet another year passed without any sight of a solution to the problem of infiltration of foreigners, which not only posed a threat to the identity of the indigenous people of the State, but also posed a security threat to the country. However, on the positive side, the Government has assured completion of the border fencing in the year 2007 and if that is done, the problem will be eased out to a great extent.

Though the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, who chaired a tripartite meeting on the implementation of the Assam Accord in May, 2005, promised to complete the fencing along the Asom-Bangladesh border by the end of 2006, the Government failed to complete the job. Now the Government has assured completion of the fencing within 2007 and one hopes that this time, the project will be completed. 

On the positive side, Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil visited the international border areas in 2006 to see the situation on the ground and immediately after his visit, the Central Government sanctioned construction of a new fencing in a stretch of 76 kilometres along the international border in Dhubri district. The existing fencing has almost become redundant, mainly due to technical flaws as the fencing was constructed at a much lower height than the border roads, as a result of which, the fencing remained under water during the entire rainy season. The construction of the new fencing is likely to start shortly and the survey for the same is complete. This time, two Central Government agencies have been entrusted with the job of completing the project and they have been given specific deadlines.

The visit of Patil, the first time by a Union Home Minister in many years, had another very positive impact as the Government sanctioned construction of fencing on the chars along the international border, which are of permanent nature. The international border passes right through some of the chars and with citizens of both India and Bangladesh living together on the chars, it is impossible for the Border Security Force (BSF) personnel to identify who is an Indian citizen and who is not. But the problem will ease out to a great extent with the construction of fencing on the chars and already the work has started in a nine-kilometre stretch in Masalabari char. The work is likely to be completed within the year 2007.

Another positive aspect is that modern gadgets including global positioning system equipment, hand-held thermal image intensifiers etc are being provided to the BSF men posted along the border, which will increase the effectiveness of the border guarding force. Five new border outposts of the BSF came up in 2006 in Dhubri sector, thereby increasing the number of BOPs to 45 and reducing the distance between the BOPs.

At the tripartite meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, the Government also assured completion of the process of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) of 1971 by September, 2007 and giving photo identity cards to Indian citizens on the basis of that. But time and again, the All Assam Students Union (AASU) expressed its displeasure over the slow progress of the work and it remains to be seen whether the Government manages to keep the deadline of completing the job of updating the NRC by September, 2007. Updating of the NRC will not only help the law enforcing agencies in detecting the foreigners living in the State, but it will also prevent harassment of genuine Indian citizens in the process of identifying foreigners.

The Supreme Court verdict on the Governments move to amend the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order of 1964 was another highlight of the year, 2006. Following the scrapping of the controversial Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act by the Supreme Court, the Government of India again tried to bring in a separate legislation by amending the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964 and brought in a new legislation Foreigners (Tribunals for Assam ) Order, 2006, which was again challenged in the Apex Court by Member of Parliament Sarbananda Sonowal and Charan Deka of the BJP. The Court scrapped the new Order of the Government. Though the Court verdict was welcomed by different political parties and non-political organizations of the state, political will of the Government is a must for detection and deportation of foreigners living in the state.

The Government of India failed to persuade the Government of Bangladesh to allow the BSF to bring in floating BOPS through the territory of the neighbouring country in the year 2006 and now the Government is exploring the feasibility of construction of such BOPs in this region itself. The floating BOPS could have helped in maintaining vigil along the riverine border and the Government should develop the Pandu port, if possible, to construct the BOPS here instead of waiting for clearance from the Government of the neighbouring country to bring in the floating BOPs through its territory.

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