[Assam] Who is What?

[Dilip/Dil Deka]

I ran into this letter published in the Sentinel. If the letter is athentic, does it explain some of the controversies in identification of Bangladeshis among the refugees from Nagaland?
  Dilip Deka
  ===================================================
                Who is What?
A whole lot of reports have appeared on the exodus of ‘suspected’ Bangladeshi labourers from Nagaland. I, as a conscious Naga citizen, would like to say that Nagaland has been a home for myriad Indian business communities like the Marwaris, Bengalis, Assamese, Biharis and Nepalis. However, in rural Nagaland, since our childhood (early 1950s), petty shops and business have been run by Muslims from Assam’s Karimganj and Badarpur regions. Many of them have married Naga girls and are now well settled.
When Dimapur started to develop as a large commercial hub due to the exodus of Marwaris from Upper Assam, who fled due to ULFA’s threat in early 1990s, a large labour force was required. The contractors started to take cheap labourers from places like Lahorighat, Mankachar, Bilasipara, Barpeta and Nagaon, whom they used to address as ‘‘Mias’’ while some used to call them ‘‘suspected Bangladeshis’’. A few of these labourers got involved in cases of molestation and theft, inviting the Naga people’s wrath. But such ill-feelings were short-lived. However, the new generation of youths could not differentiate between those who were doing petty trade since 1940s and those who were imported recently by the contractors as labourers.
The same mistake has again been repeated this time also. The Ao Students’ Union failed to differentiate between the two, and even those whom we have seen since our childhood days were not spared.
Joseph J Sema, 
Dimapur, Nagaland.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.assamnet.org/pipermail/assam-assamnet.org/attachments/20070803/1c3643d9/attachment.htm>