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Assam police to help check infiltration

After years of indifference, the Assam police appears to be waking up to the menace of infiltration from across the international border with Bangladesh.

According to an ambitious plan unveiled by state Director General of Police Hare Krishna Deka on Thursday, the Assam police will form the second line of defence behind the Border Security Force against illegal migration from Bangladesh.

At least three tactical headquarters and 28 additional camps will come up at different infiltration-prone points along the international border as soon as arms and ammunition required for the force is made available.

Assam shares a 262 km long border with Bangladesh. Out of this 262 km, nearly 100-odd km is made up of rivers and streams that constantly change their course, making it difficult for the BSF personnel to patrol and prevent influx.

A six-year long agitation against foreign nationals, mainly Bangladeshis by the All Assam Students Union between 1979 and 1985 had rocked the state. The Assam Accord signed between the Centre and the AASU on August 15, 1985 had sought to find a solution to the issue.

All that happened between 1985 and now is that it brought the then student leaders Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and his associates, under the banner of Asom Gana Parishad to power twice. The primary purpose of the accord - that of detection, disenfranchisement and deportation of foreigners - has been largely forgotten except by the AASU which makes periodical noises.

In fact, the latest police move has come in the wake of decisions at a tripartite meeting between the Centre, the AASU and the state government over implementation of the Assam Accord, late last year.

Assam Governor Lt Gen (retd) S K Sinha had, in a path-breaking report to President RK Narayanan in 1998, suggested deployment of additional BSF battalions to check infiltration.

Moreover, he wanted the international boundary in Assam to be fenced on a war footing.

Under the terms of the accord, anyone who has entered the state after March 25, 1971 is a foreigner and liable to be deported. All those migrants who came into Assam between 1966 and March 24, 1971 would not be deported but would be disenfranchised for ten years.

The detection is supposed to take place under the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, 1983. But the act, regarded by most experts as "discriminatory," for its lop-sided provisions has failed to detect foreigners in Assam. One of the provisions for instance says that the onus of proving a person as a foreigner lies on the complainant unlike under the provisions of the Foreigners Act, that is applicable everywhere else in the country.

DGP Deka claimed in Thursday's press conference that 789 infiltratrors were caught trying to enter Assam and were immediately sent back.

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